Sentinel of Harmony
by Dee2810
Summary: In an attempt to repent for his past mistakes, Naruto Uzumaki left the Land of Fire using a Teleportation Jutsu he created on his own and arrived at Equestria, a magical place where he now considers as his new home. Little did he realize that his sole presence in that dimension alone would cause the entire place to change in ways nopony could ever imagine.
1. Chapter 1

**To be honest, I was never a fan of MLP nor did I have the slightest attention of becoming a Brony and yet here I am now finishing off season 4 (I'm a slow person) and writing a Naruto X MLP crossover.**

 **Before this, I always thought MLP to be one of those senseless, cheesy, girls-only (Pardon me if I sound a bit sexist) cartoon TV shows that emphasize on typical friendship morale lessons and other whatnots. Apparently, that was not the case. Sure, MLP does the same thing but at the same time they also convey other messages that even an old teen like me could actually relate in real life; something that other cartoon shows failed to do.**

 **Anyway, I'm gonna cut my chat short since this is the first chapter so hope you guys enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or My Little Pony as they're owned by Masashi Kishimoto and Lauren Faust respectively.**

 **A Fresh New Start**

Konohagakure, also known as Konoha for short, was one of the major hidden villages located within the Land of Fire. In the past, the village was owned only by the Senju and the Uchiha clans, now the village occupies various powerful clans such as the foreseeing Hyuugas, the brave Akimichis and the strategic Naras; making it the village with the most assets within the continent.

As of tonight, the Konoha were experiencing a harsh rainy weather that seemed to cast the entire village into an extreme gloomy atmosphere. None of the citizens bothered to walk along streets in such an unforgiving weather aside than a few passing shinobis on patrols and civilians armed with umbrellas as their means of protection.

Zooming to the outskirts of the city, we arrived at the Konoha cemetery where rows after rows of grey tombstones lie with a sculpture located at the front, representing the Will of Fire of the village. A male teen stood among the dull and grey tombstones of the cemetery.

The teen has unruly sun-kissed blond locks and a pair of cerulean blue eyes. Three pair of whisker-like scar marks adorned both his cheeks, giving him a foxy appearance. He was clad in a black and orange zipped-up jacket over a crimson red cloak with black flame pattern licking its trimmings, a pair of orange jumpsuit pants that has a kunai holster and bandage wrapped around its left calve and a pair of black ninja sandals. A large scroll was strapped to his lower back by the means of a belt that was coiled around his left shoulder.

Unfazed by the drizzle that soaked the teen to his bones, the blonde continued to stare at the particular tombstone in front of him with an unreadable expression. And it probably would've stayed that way had it were not for the voice inside his head.

 _ **It's time, kit.**_ A gruff voice mentally said within his mindscape. _ **If we don't leave anytime soon, they're going to find us.**_

At first, the teen showed no sign of listening until he spoke, revealing his deep voice, "…I know, Kurama."

Turning around and walking away, the sun kissed blonde casted one final glance at the tombstone for a few more seconds – a look of apprehension flashed through his visage – before casting a hand seal and disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

…

Using the Body Flicker jutsu, the whiskered teen arrived at a forest clearing that was a good distant away from Konoha. The field was used to be a logging area to gather materials for rebuilding Konoha as indicated by the numerous empty tree trumps scattered all over the place but was abandoned once the Fourth Ninja War was over.

' **This is a good spot.'** He mentally thought to himself as he slung the large scroll he was carrying off his back and laid it on the ground. Unfurling the large scroll, the Jinchuuriki was greeted with the sight of hundreds of ink-written kanji that either crisscross, circulates or overlapped one another, forming one huge web of kanji.

"I just hope this works,"

 _ **It will.**_ The mental voice added. _**We put a lot in the line for this**_.

Naruto's facial expression remained unreadable as he stared at his handiwork. He had re-checked the seal jutsu and tinkered with it for several times but that doesn't necessarily help determine whether if it will work or not. After all, it's not every day someone decided to create a jutsu that allows inter-dimensional travel in a matter of few months time. Heck, he was surprised that he could even make one simply by referring through some old textbooks his godfather had left him with as well as with the aid of his bijuu partner, Kurama.

If things came for the worse and the jutsu doesn't work, they might be stuck in the plane of time space continuum.

"Only one way to find out." He declared as he bit his thumb and causing a trickle of blood to flow out before flipping into a blur of hand seals. If there's one crucial thing that he learnt from this, it's that his teleportation jutsu absurdly took more hand seals than any other regular jutsu. It was also for this very reason on why he initiated it far away from Konohagakure: To ensure that no one would disturb him in the process.

In the midst of his preparation, he managed to spare one last glance behind him. Though he could see nothing but foliage after foliage of leaves, he knew that's the rough direction of his hometown, Konoha.

"Sorry guys," He muttered to himself. "All of you are better off without me."

With that said, he slammed his palm onto the centre of the scroll. " **Reverse Summoning Technique!** "

For the first few eye-blinking seconds, nothing unusual happened. Then, just when he thought it painstakingly failed, he began to feel himself, and his very life essence, being tugged into the scroll. As if to reflect this happening, his body began to emit a soft yet ethereal glow. Almost in a similar manner to when he entered his Tailed Beast cloak mode, with the minor of exception of the conjured light being white in color. The blonde himself managed to notice this change before disappearing out of thin air, along with the scroll used to conjure the jutsu.

It was fortunate that he didn't stall any longer because as soon as he was gone, a group of shinobi landed onto the clearing.

"Where is he, Kiba?" One of them spoke upon landing. He had a pair of lazy yet calculative eyes, black spiky hair that were tied in a pineapple manner and was clad in a long sleeved dark blue shirt that had a red swirl printed on the upper part of sleeves over a forest green vest, a pair of pants that had the same shade of blue as his shirt and a pair of black sturdy ninja sandals.

The question was directed to another member who was riding a white dog that was as big as him. Contrary to the first one, the person named Kiba gave off a feral-like appearance with his slitted onyx black irises and his brown hair spiked in all directions. To top it off, he was dressed in all-leather attire consisting of a zipped-up black jacket as well as pants and a pair of ninja sandals.

Said person sniffed the air a few times alongside his dog before coming with a reply, "His scent ends here."

"But he's not here."

"I already told you his scent ends right here, didn't I?" He answered back in distaste, obviously offended by the question. "Honestly, why do we even bother looking for him? It's not like we forced him to leave or anything. If anything, he deserved it."

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say as he was immediately subjected to a punch in the left cheek courtesy of the pineapple-head, knocking him off the dog.

With a palm resting on his injured cheek, he glared at the culprit, "What the hell was that for, Shikamaru!?"

"Shut it, Kiba." He warned darkly. "You of all people know the incident wasn't his fault."

"You wanna bet?" At this point, the two were inches away from each other's faces and a conflict would've been ensued had it were for the intervention of one of their party members.

"That's enough, both of you!" A female of the group shouted, shoving the two several feet away from each other with strength no woman should ever have. She had short pink hair that reached her neck, a pair of emerald green eyes and was dressed in a sleeveless red qiapo dress with a circle design on the back, a pair of black shorts and a pair of black ninja sandals. "We're here to find Naruto, not to fight against each other!"

"Sakura's right." Another male agreed. The voice originated from another male teen that was clad in a green spandex with orange warmers adorned his lower arm and legs. If his choice of clothing wasn't bizarre enough, he had a bowl-shaped haircut and a pair of bushy eyebrows that made him weirder. Strangely enough, this was obviously a daily occurrence for the group as none of them spared him a second glance. "He shouldn't have gotten that far from here. We should split up and start looking for him."

The pinkhead named Sakura gave him an appreciative smile. "Good idea, Lee." The girl then turned to face the rest of the group. "Shino and Kiba will go to the west, me and Lee will go north, Shikamaru and Chouji head east, Ino and Sai will go South. Everyone clear? Let's go!"

With silent nod of confirmations and an indignant huff from Kiba, the group split apart to their designated direction, minus the two teens named Shikamaru and Chouji.

"You okay, Shikamaru?" Among the group, the plumped male named Chouji was the only one who seemed to be equipped in a fully-protective garb that consisted of a red baggy bodysuit over a set of samurai armor plating.

"I'm fine," The pineapple-headed teen replied back in his usual monotone voice. "You go on ahead, I'll catch up."

"Alright but make it quick." He urged before disappearing with speed that belied his appearance.

"Yeah, yeah, I know." He replied back, which he doubt his team member would even listen.

Once he was out of sight, silence permeated across the clearing as Shikamaru remained motionless, clearly deep thought of the current situation. Then, with a click of his tongue, he took out a cigarette pack and lighter from behind his vest.

"Dammit Naruto."

…

"Did it work?"

Opening his eyes, Naruto was greeted with an ever changing myriad of colors that does not rest well with his eyes. Glancing to his left and right, he realized that the color surrounding actually congregated into the form of one large tunnel and he couldn't tell if he was going up or falling down; this must be the time-space continuum. It was a good thing he was trained to deal with this kind of shenanigans. Otherwise, he would've puked from all the nausea he was experiencing at the moment. And puking in the time-space fabric was the last thing he wanted to accomplish in his to-do list.

"Huh, it does work."

 _ **Don't get your hopes up just yet, gaki. We still have yet to arrive to another world.**_ Kurama mentally scolded. _**For all we know, we'd probably be stuck here forever.**_

Naruto smiled at his partner's remark. "That sounds nice," He wasn't sure if it was due to the space-travelling taking its toll on him but at this point, the blonde didn't really care where he was going to. He was already content simply from leaving the Land of Fire. If what Kurama said was true and he really does have stuck here then that's that, he suppose. It's not like anyone's gonna miss him anyway, especially not after what he did.

Naruto winced the moment that was mentioned. Yup, coming here was definitely a good call.

Fortunately for him, the fates of another realm had prepared a plan just for him.

"Do you think they'd look for me?" He asked after an undefined duration of silence. Who knew travelling would take such a long time?

Kurama grunted in consideration _._ _ **Knowing that sensei of yours, he'd probably deployed all of the country's assets to search for you across the Land of Fire.**_ **He elaborated before grinning maniacally.** _ **You being smart enough to make a dimensional travel jutsu would be the last thing he'd possibly thought of.**_

"…I'll take that as a compliment,"

Another moment of comfortable silence passed by and the blonde probably would've snoozed right there when the sentient being inside him spoke.

 _ **I'm feeling a strong presence of energy up ahead. I'd say we're nearing our destination.**_ He pointed out. _**Looks like**_ _**we're not stuck here forever, after all.**_

The statement prompted Naruto to glance up, or in whatever direction he was heading to. Physics does not exist here. Sure enough, he could see a bright dot of white ahead of him amidst all the multitude of colors that no doubt served as a ticket for him to leave this bizarre place. At least, he hoped it is.

 _ **Brace for impact.**_

That caught his immediate attention. "Uh, why?" He asked a little suspiciously.

 _ **Because I got this feeling that we won't be leaving this place without a scratch.**_

…

…

…

…

…

Meanwhile, in another realm far far away from the Fire Country, a lone mare can be seen sitting on a chair and table and having a cup of tea on a beautifully-designed white balcony, complete with perfectly polished marble tiled floors and well-sculptured semi-circled stone balustrade.

The mare has a pair of sparkling pale magenta eyes, a quad-colored mane and tail consisting of light cerulean, turquoise, cobalt blue and heliotrope that seemed to wave and defies gravity and was coated in a rich light fuchsia grey fur that no doubt took plenty of effort to take care of. To further elaborate her grace, the pony had a golden tiara emblazoned with a purple diamond gemstone located just behind her alicorn horn, a golden bejeweled necklace with a similar shaped purple diamond gemstone in the centre wrapped around the base of her neck and golden ornamented slippers adorned each of her hooves. It didn't take a scientist to tell that she was of royalty descendants.

"Ah, peace and quiet." She rejoiced.

The white pony's lips curved into a smile as she gently took a sip of her tea. Nothing beats a morning than having a cup of tea accompanied by a few of her favorite crumpets early in the morning. It was this kind of small pleasures that made her look forward to living every day.

Truth to be told, her schedule was actually packed for the next few hours but no matter, that doesn't stop her from enjoying her already-scarce break. After all, such was the fate of being a leader of a country.

Sadly, as scarce her breaks were, her beloved bubble of tranquility was shattered when the ground underneath her suddenly shook, prompting her to nearly drop and shatter her favorite tea set.

Alarmed, the mare quickly got of her seat and looked around in shock. "What was that?"

"Princess Celestia!"

Upon hearing her name being called out, Celestia spun around and saw two ponies galloping towards her: one of them was a mare while the latter was a stallion.

"Cadence, Shining!"

The first one was her beloved niece named Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, or Cadance for short. She had a pair of light purple eyes and her feminine pony figure was enveloped in pale, light grayish cerise fur. Unlike her beloved aunt's four-colored, waving mane, Cadance's curly mane and tail only consisted of mostly moderate violet with a few strands being moderate rose and pale gold and was tied in a ponytail-like manner by a piece of sky blue ribbon.

The stallion was her recently-appointed Lieutenant called Shining Armor. At first glance, the stallion's muscular body structure gave him an Earth pony-like appearance though the unicorn horn on his head meant otherwise. He had a pair of moderate cerulean blue eyes, a wild mane and tail that were a mixed color of moderate sapphire, cerulean and dark phthalo blue and was covered in light gray fur. Rather than clad in jewelries like the first two ponies, the grey stallion was clad in a silver Greek-themed armor consisting of a Trojan helmet with red plumes on his head, a chest plate, a saddle armor and a set of gauntlets armed on all his four legs.

"We felt the ground shook just now!" Shining exclaimed. "Are you alright, Princess Celestia?"

"I'm fine."

The two sighed in relief, glad to know that their ruler was fine.

"What was that anyway? Is it an earthquake?" Cadance asked worriedly.

Celestia furrowed her eyebrows at that. While natural calamities still occur every now and then, an earthquake was the last thing her beloved Equestria would ever encounter due to its geographical location on the planet.

"I don't know, Cadance but I doubt it's an earthquake," Lieutenant Shining replied on her behalf. "But whatever caused the tremor, it's obviously coming from that direction."

Pointing a hoof, the stallion prompted the two mares to avert their gaze to a faint trail of black smoke that was emerging from behind the mountain lines.

Cadence squinted her eyes as she stared at the direction. Celestia could already imagine the gears churning inside her mind. "Isn't that where Ponyville is?"

"Hm, now that you mentioned it, you're right, that is Ponyville." Shining agreed after mentally assessing it himself.

"What should we do, Princess Celestia?"

Celestia pondered deeply about this before she spoke, "Lieutenant Shining, do you have anything today?"

The question caught said stallion by surprise, prompting him to briefly share an eye contact with Cadance. "Uh no, why do you ask, Princess Celestia?"

"We'll be paying Ponyville a quick visit."

…

Pain.

That was the only thing Naruto felt as soon as he arrived at this so-called new dimension. Kurama wasn't kidding when he said he won't be arriving here without a scratch.

While the jutsu had been relatively successful, it wasn't perfect enough to provide him with a smooth, painless landing. This was proven by how the blonde appeared several hundred feet above altitude level before roughly landing on the ground and inadvertently forming a huge crater like a burning meteor.

"Note to self: Apply less chakra into the jutsu and try to make it as less painful as possible…" He feebly whispered to himself as he remained splayed in the crater he created.

Fortunately, he was saved from any more physical torture when Kurama's healing factor kicked in, snapping any misaligned bones back into place and patching up any open wounds. In a few minutes time, he was completely healed.

Upon getting off his crater and glancing at his newly-profound surroundings, Naruto thought he landed at the Forest of Death but quickly dismissed such thought. While the place certainly carried the same dark and gloomy vibe as his homeplace, the trees weren't as tall or thick not to mention the place also have flora and fauna he wasn't entirely familiar to his realm.

Still having a slight headache from the dimensional travel, Naruto pressed a palm on his forehead to soothe the pain. He winced in pain however when instead of flesh, he felt something rock solid against his head.

Puzzled, the blonde brought his hand into his line of view. He froze.

Instead of seeing his palm like always, Naruto was greeted with the sight of an animal hoof. Not a hand, just a hoof. And it definitely belonged to him seeing that it was twitching and moving in accordance to his command. He then proceeded on looking at his other limb and was met with the sight of another hoof.

Panicked began welling up within himself, the knucklehead ninja frantically looked around him for something. Anything. His eye sight then rested on a stream of water flowing nearby in which he wasted no time limping to like a crippled old man to examine his reflection. As soon as he did, he finally realized that it wasn't just his hand that underwent a change.

Instead of his human form, he was in the form of a horse layered in orange fur. His spiky blonde hair was now turned into his mane that went along the backside of his neck. His cerulean blue eyes remained the same but he could've sworn it glowed much more than usual. Just like any other horses, he too had a tail that comes in the same color as his golden locks.

Naruto blinked. A moment of awkward silence permeated by before all hell broke loose. Then, he did what any sane man would do in his situation.

"WHAT THE HELL!?"

 **And that's a wrap for the first chapter. Do review me on what your opinion of this first chapter story as I have plenty more in stock. It's greatly appreciated.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again fellow mares and gentlecolts! First off, I'd like to say thanks to those who were kind enough to leave a review behind. It is highly appreciated. To be honest with you guys, I never actually thought I'd get more than one review, 10 favs and follows for the first chapter but I guess I was wrong. You guys are awesome!**

 **Now normally I'd usually do a reviewer's review section like most of my Fanfictions but I figured I'll do that in the near future, probably around chapter 5 since that's when things are started to become interesting (provided that I don't messed up the timeline of my original plan)**

 **With that said, onwards to the story!**

 **Where am I?**

"WHAT THE HELL!?" He yelled incredulously, taking a step back from the stream and looking down at his newly-profound body in pure shock. "WHY AM I A HORSE!?"

Ignoring his tenant's shock, Kurama burst into a fit of echoing laughter that resonated within his mindscape, obviously enjoying his partner's newly profound predicament. If he knew any better, this was the first time he ever actually laughed genuinely over something so ridiculous.

Naruto scowled. "Not funny, Kurama." He said bitterly. "Not funny at all."

 _ **I already warned you, didn't I?**_ He finally spoke after his laugh died down. _**It's impossible for you to enter an entirely different dimension without encountering any problems. I'm surprised we're even alive here of all things.**_

"How am I supposed to know that I'd turned into a horse!?" He retorted in defense, still unable to grasp what he was facing at the moment.

 _ **I did say the consequences can be anything, didn't I?**_ He spoke. _ **As much as I wanted to continue this stupid argument with you, you better get out of this forest first.**_

Naruto sighed. He supposed he can't disagree to that. "Fine, this place gives me the creeps anyway."

After spending a few minutes fumbling with his equipment, he managed to strap his kunai holster and bandages wrapped around his left foreleg and his large scroll resting on his back, he finally began his journey. At least, that's what he intended on doing before majestically face-planting himself onto ground below.

As it turned out, moving with his new sets of limbs was proven to be a tough problem for the blonde. Although the concept of moving was identical to him moving while crouching, his newly-profound body structure particularly of his horse hind legs had more or less messed up his brain's command. Furthermore, he was still winded up from the dimensional travel; another thing he needed to tinker with in the near future.

With shaky hooves, the blonde tried to step forward or anywhere for that particular matter, but immediately collapse once more whenever he took a misstep or when his stance went wrong.

 _ **You look stupid. Even a newly-born offspring can move better than you do.**_

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." He replied sarcastically.

 _ **Gaki, don't move.**_

"Why? Because I look stupid?"

 _ **No, because we're not alone here.**_

As if on cue, the blonde heard several menacing growls that echoed around him. It was only when he glanced around did he realized that there were several menacing green eyes materialized from within the darkness of the forest around them. For how long they had been there, he had no clue.

Naruto instinctively entered a defensive stance – which in his new body, mainly involved him having to bend his knees to lower his body – but whatever preparations he had disappeared when one of the glowing green eyes finally emerged out of their cover followed by three more.

"Kurama…what is that?" The blonde whispered, taking a step back.

At first sight, they looked like wolves but instead of flesh and fur, they were made from branches and leaves from head to tail. Not only that but they were also emitting green chakra-like light from between the crevices of their body.

 _ **I don't know but they're definitely not friendly, that's for sure.**_

As if to prove his statement, one of the wolves snarled and lunged at him with his salivating fangs wide open, intent on having the blonde pony as his next meal. Overcome by his battle instinct, Naruto jumped and did an airborne roundhouse kick on the side of its head, causing it to shatter into a pile of leaves and twigs.

A second one tried to pounce on him while he was still midair but by the time it did, Naruto had returned back to solid ground and ducked under the wolf before roughly tackling it on its side, letting it receive the same fate like the first one before it had any chance to counter attack.

The third and fourth were proven to be smarter than the first two as they tried to corner him from both sides, obviously trying to attack the blonde from his blind spot. Under a silent cue, they both charged at him at the same time.

With a speed that belied his body, Naruto swiftly grabbed one of them by its muzzle before using the wolf as an over-sized club and swung it on the other wolf that were inches away from him, simultaneously shattering the both of them into nothing but a pile of leaves and branches.

"Huh, that was easier than I thought." He commented after making sure there wasn't any more around. "I was expecting more resistance."

 _ **Don't let your guard down. It's not over yet.**_

"What do you mean?" was what he wanted to ask until he saw the tree parts remains of the wolves emit a greenish chakra-like glow. "Oh."

Ever so slowly, the green Chakra-imbued leaves and branches levitated off the ground before congregating themselves into four separate clusters where they began further shaping themselves. Before he knew what was going on, the four wolves came back, prepared for a second round.

Naruto groaned. "Oh kami, don't tell me they're immortal."

 _ **They're not immortal but they're close to being one.**_

"That's reassuring to hear." He replied sarcastically.

"Let's see whether if they can regenerate back or not once I shove them up with a Rasengan!"

Standing on his hind legs, the grinning blonde stallion began doing his signature move of creating his favorite Futon jutsu with his fore hooves. The wolves stopped their advancement at that, obviously wary after discovering that their next meal can fight back.

But nothing happened.

Puzzled, he tried forming a Rasengan once more but still nothing happened. He couldn't even feel any Chakra flowing.

No Chakra flowing…

No Chakra…

"Kurama, remember the time when you said about this realm's term and condition?"

 _ **Yeah, what about it?**_ Kurama inquired.

"Does it also include me not being able to use Chakra?"

Silence

… _ **the idea is plausible.**_

More silence __

"Well, this isn't good."

…

"Princess Celestia, thank goodness you're here!"

Such was the first thing the Alicorn of Sun heard as soon as she stepped down her carriage and onto the soil of Ponyville.

Looking front, Celestia was greeted with the sight of Mayor Mare, the current appointed mayor of Ponyville, accompanied by a few of the citizens behind them. None of them looked happy.

"Miss Mayor, what's wrong?" She inquired.

Said mare took a few deep breaths to calm herself down before she spoke. "A few minutes ago, there was a powerful explosion coming from the Everfree Forest." She reported. "It was disastrous, I tell you! The entire town was in complete pandemonium!"

Celestia and Shining eyed each other. They were going in the right direction, after all.

"Are there any casualties?"

The Mayor shook her head. "Thankfully, nopony was injured."

"That's good to know. Rest assured Miss Mayor, we'll get to the bottom of this. In the mean time, I shall leave my guards with you." Said four Pegasus guards who were accompanying her and Shining were surprised to hear that but said nothing otherwise. "Feel free to ask for their help if you need anything."

"Understood Princess Celestia. Oh and please be careful when you're in the Everfree Forest since this is the season when the Timberwolves appears."

"Don't worry, we'll be fine. Let us go, Lieutenant Shining." She replied back as she turned around and head off in the direction of the Everfree Forest with a hesitant Shining Armor in tow.

"Uh Princess Celestia, are you sure it's a good idea to leave those guards behind?" Shining questioned once they were out of hearing range. "They're here for your protection, after all."

"It's for the best," She replied back. "Whatever caused that explosion had put the entire town on edge. And if you hadn't noticed, our unannounced presence here to investigate such unforeseen event alone has made things much worse. If we were to bring any more guards along into the forest, it'll rouse the citizens' suspicion into thinking that something bad has happened, putting them in more distress, and we don't want that."

Shining was speechless as he listened to her reasoning. He never actually thought of that. While he was aware that their uncalled arrival would make the citizens of Ponyville slightly panic, he never thought of it to that very extent.

"But what about the Timberwolves then?" He continued on. "What if they decided to attack us when we're inside the forest?"

Celestia glanced at him with a knowing smile. "Why do you think you're here?"

…

"DO THOSE THINGS EVER GIVE UP!?"

After killing them for the umpteenth time and coming up with the same result, he came with the conclusion that these 'recyclable' sentient beings can't be easily killed. So the blonde changed tactic and fled the scene. Unfortunately, the wolves didn't look like they'll be giving up on him anytime soon, especially not after being killed over and over again.

As troublesome as his predicament was, Naruto couldn't help but chuckle to himself. A few minutes ago, he can barely move an inch forward without tripping like an idiot. And yet, here he found himself skillfully galloping across the dark and murky forest and avoiding unwanted obstacles as if he was a horse ever since he was born. It's no wonder Kakashi-sensei called him a fast learner.

On the other hand, the wolves were slowly gaining ground on him, prompting Naruto to think of an alternative plan unless he wished to become wolf meal.

Luckily for him, Kurama was already on it.

 _ **Kit, look on your left. There's a bridge over there.**_

That prompted the blonde to jerk his head at said direction. Sure enough, there was a rope bridge that stretched long above a cloudy chasm.

Understanding what his partner was hinting at, the blonde changed direction and sprinted straight for the bridge. As he got closer, a look of apprehension crossed his visage and he briefly screeched into a halt when he realized just how worn out the bridge truly was. If he'd know any better, the bridge probably hasn't been used for a very long time due to its wear and tear condition.

He didn't have the convenience of checking the bridge's integrity however when he heard the wolves' howling a distance behind him, signaling his impending doom. Steeling his nerve, Naruto picked up his pace and raced across the bridge all the while silently praying to whatever deities existing in this realm for the bridge to not collapse. The bridge creaked and groaned but remained intact otherwise.

As soon as he got on the other side, the blonde-maned pony wasted no time on reaching for the kunai holster he had conveniently strapped to his left foreleg earlier hand. Only to curse loudly later on when he remembered that he have hooves instead of hands. His panic escalated further when the wolves burst out of the forest on the other side, finally catching up to him.

"Kurama, how am I supposed to hold a kunai with this!?" He demanded.

Amidst the deep of his mindscape, the blonde can actually hear his partner facepalm. _**Oh for the love of—use your muzzle, not your hoof, you baka!**_ He raged.

Gripping the weapon in between his teeth, he wasted no time in cutting the rope wrapped around one of the wooden stakes that keeps the bridge together. The rope broke with an audible snap. Meanwhile, the wolves have caught sight of him and were now heading for the bridge, oblivious to what he was planning on doing.

The other rope was evident to be harder to be cut and the blonde found himself struggling due to its tighter knot, and his poor oral grip on the kunai wasn't making it any better either. Just when the wolves were midway on the bridge, he drove the kunai straight into the knot in mix of desperate and anger, effectively snapping the rope in one swift motion.

The result of his action came soon after when the bridge wobbled wildly, prompting the wolves on it to halt in their approach, before falling down into the clouded chasm down below and bringing the wolves along with it. In a last attempt of struggle, one of the Timberwolves tried to grab one of the wooden planks of the bridge, only to fell into abyss along with his brethren when it broke under its sudden strain. Naruto silently watched as the unfortunate wolves fell deep into the chasm with one final echoing howl. He wasn't sure how deep the rift was and whether if such long fall would actually kill them but at least he knew they won't be chasing him anytime soon.

Spitting the kunai out of his muzzle, the orange stallion let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding and plopped on his back when the adrenaline finally abandoned his body with an audible thud. "Dear Kami, that was close," He declared.

 _ **Way too close for comfort**_. Kurama added offhandedly.

"What the hell was that anyway, Kurama? Why can't I use Chakra just now?"

 _ **Hm, it seemed I have overlooked some aspects of your body.**_

"What do you mean?" He questioned, not liking where this was going.

 _ **After conducting a quick scan of your body, I found out that your physical body isn't the only thing that had undergone a change but your Chakra coils as well.**_

There was a brief silence before Naruto full registered what he just said. "W-Wait, are you saying that I can't use Chakra anymore!?" For a full-pledged Shinobi, there was nothing scarier than permanently not being able to use Chakra. And Naruto wasn't an exception for this.

 _ **Calm down, gaki. I didn't say that you permanently won't be able to use Chakra. Otherwise, I wouldn't be talking to you now, do I?**_

Naruto pondered about this. He had made a point. Kurama was a sentient being made entirely out of Chakra, if he can't use Chakra, the nine-tailed fox wouldn't still be here talking to him.

"So what's gonna happen to me then?" He questioned once more.

 _ **As much as I loathe admitting it, I don't know. I've never actually encountered this kind of situation before so I'll need some time to check it out. In the mean time, I suggest you get out of this forest fast before we encounter any more of those wolves, or any other monsters that resides within this forest for that matter.**_

"Easier said than done. How am I supposed to get out of here when I don't even know where I am?"

 _ **Maybe investigating that building behind you would be a good start.**_

Naruto raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Building? What building?" He inquired before turning around. "Oh, that building."

A huge medieval castle loomed behind him. If the forest was scary, the castle was scarier with its ruined state consisting of stone walls that have worn out from continuous weather influence, overgrown mosses that have decided to take hold on various parts of the castle remains and the overall intimidating atmosphere of the entire place.

Naruto stared at the huge structure with a completely blank look. "How did I not see that?"

 _ **Your obliviousness knows no boundaries, kit.**_

…

"By Equestria, what happened here?"

Parting away a few strands of her quad-colored mane from her eyes, Celestia gazed at the devastation before her that came in the form of a still-sizzling crater in the middle of the Everfree Forest where Naruto previously was. Apparently, she had underestimated the situation than she thought it would have been.

While the deforestation was a matter she should take concern of, she was profoundly more worried of the culprit who created this crater. Not even the strongest Unicorn she was familiar of was capable doing magical destruction to this extent.

Trotting onward to the edge, Celestia glanced at Shining who were down in the crater who currently investigating it. "Found anything, Lieutenant Shining?"

Said stallion shook his head. "None. Aside than a few odd traces of lingering magic, I found nothing."

"Odd? Odd in what way?"

"When I first examined the crater, all I sense was just small traces of magic but after doing a thorough scan, I realize that there are also traces of something else; an entirely different energy signature that I'm not familiar with. It behaves similar to magic but at the same, it's not."

"Could it be black magic perhaps?"

Shining shook his head once more. "Black magic usually emits a dark and malovent aura and this one doesn't have any of those characteristics."

"Well, this is disconcerting."

"What should we do?"

"We're going to continue this search. Whoever did this, he or she probably hasn't got that far from here."

"But how are we going to do that? The Everfree Forest isn't exactly small and if we were to call for reinforcements from Canterlot, the culprit would probably have been long gone by the time they arrived." He pointed out. "More importantly, why would anypony be doing in the forest anyway?"

The Alicorn of the Sun fell silent as she pondered about this and she snapped her head upwards when a light bulb flickered to life above her head. "I may have a clue on where this pony had gone to."

Shining evidently perked up at that. "Really?"

Celestia nodded. "I just hope I'm wrong."

…

Meanwhile, in another part of the Everfree Forest, the blonde found himself occupied with another mind-boggling issue.

"HIYAA!"

And that issue involves him trying to get the front entrance of the castle ruins opened.

Naruto gritted his teeth when the large double wooden door in front of him wouldn't budge despite pulling his strongest punches. In normal occasion, he would've been able to easily pry it open with a single Rasengan or any other Ninjutsu he had kept in his reserve but seeing that he was temporarily unable to use chakra, he'll have to do it the old style. And that style of his wasn't working in the slightest at the moment.

The blonde bashed it several times with his front hooves but the door remained unperturbed, as if to mock his inability to use chakra. Poor Naruto was not amused, not one bit.

"Come on…just open…already!" He growled agitatedly.

His rage finally reached its boiling point, Naruto stopped.

Naruto wasn't sure what happened at the moment in the midst of his rage but he had a rough grasp of spinning around his heels and kicking the door with his hind legs in the classic donkey kick manner; a habit he does when dealing with stubborn vending machines. Strangely enough, the door opened. Okay, saying that he opened the door was an understatement. He literally blew the barred door off its hinges, creating a huge empty hole where the main entrance used to be located.

"…Whoops." He finally said after a moment of awkward silence. "I hope this place is really abandoned. I'd hate to be sent to jail for vandalism."

 _ **Knowing your luck, we'd probably will.**_

Ignoring his partner's remark, Naruto sneaked a peek inside.

At first glance, he couldn't see anything except for pure darkness but he managed to get over it in a short manner of time.

If he thought the place was ruined from the outside, it was ten times worse in the inside. There were shattered pieces of pillars and ceilings scattered all over the place, making it practically impossible for anyone to walk straightly along the corridors, the walls had deteriorated from years of weather effect, revealing the layer of dull-colored bricks that lie behind it and there were wild plants and vines protruding from numerous crevices and cracks located within the interior.

"This place is huge, I wonder who lived here." He commented as he sauntered inside all the while looking around for any hostiles.

 _ **We can worry about that later. Right now, focus on finding clues that can help us get out of this forest.**_

The blonde nodded. If his younger self had heard such thing, he would've whined from having to do such a boring task but after partaking through the Fourth Ninja War, the blonde had finally understood the true essence of gathering intel and everything he had learnt in the past. He just wished he known of it earlier hand. Otherwise, he wouldn't be here in the first place.

Venturing through one of the dark corridors of the castle, the orange stallion arrived at what seemed to be a library section of the castle that was abundantly filled with dusty old books. Taking his opportunity, he tried – Keyword: Tried – to read a few of the books in order to get a rough of grasp of the world he was in but instantaneously reached a dead end when he realized that none of these books were written in Japanese language, though he did found something else.

Among some of the books that provided him with picture references (Bless Kami they did), he noticed that they have pictures of horses and any other animals but no humans.

 _ **So I was right.**_ Kurama spoke, breaking the silence.

Naruto stopped reading the book he was 'holding' to glance at the empty space in front of him. "What? What's right?" He questioned, as if the Kyuubi no Yoko was snoozing right there and not inside his mindscape.

 _ **I've had my suspicions but it seems we've arrived at a realm occupied by animals.**_

"You mean like the summoning animals' realm?"

 _ **Close, except for the fact that the occupants of this realm do not utilize chakra like us. If those wolves we encountered a while ago were of any indication, I'd say they use a different form of energy.**_

Naruto pondered about this before closing the book he was 'holding' with an audible thud. As unsettling as the thought of being in a world with no humans existing (He can vouch for that seeing that he used to be temporarily train in one), at least he knows he wasn't the only one being a horse.

Seeing that the library no longer served anymore purpose him, Naruto ventured to the other parts of the castle. He was just about to investigate the next room when his sensitive ears caught something.

 _Help us…_

Naruto halted within his tracks. "…did you hear that, Kurama?"

 _ **Hear what? I heard nothing.**_

 _Please help us…_

"There it is again." Following his instincts, he arrived at another huge pair of doors with the minor difference was that this one was being more ornamental and well-designed with the faint outline of one horse on each doors with their respective front hooves raised high to one another. "It sounds like it came from the other side of these doors."

 _ **Are you sure you're not imagining things? It could probably be just the wind playing tricks on you.**_

"That's what I thought when you first talked to me." After discovering the presence of an almighty being hidden inside him and other 'extraterrestrial' factors when he was still a naïve kid, the blonde had learnt to never neglect any minute details around him. Especially if said minute details involved voices that only he could hear.

Using his hind legs once more, the human-turned-pony Naruto quickly obliterated the worn out doors into nothing but a pile of splinters with a boom that can probably heard across the entire the forest. Just like what he did to the front entrance. Doing so had actually given him a thought to think about.

"Hm, now that I'm a horse, I wonder if I could do the things Gobi did." He thought out loud before grinning. "That'd be awesome."

Kurama snorted. _**Oh please,**_ _ **with the current condition you're in, you'd probably end up with severely broken bones and a serious case of concussion.**_

"Gee, thanks for the boost of confidence there, Kurama."

 _ **Better now than before you do anything stupid.**_

Stepping into the room, he arrived at huge hall that was several storey high and had a worn out red carpet that extended from the door entrance to the elevated platform at the end. "This must be the throne room," While the battered state of the place was concerning, the blonde was curious about the contraption in the middle of the room.

The orange stallion stared hard at the odd device that was made up of a large brass stand whose poles were used to hold six spherical stones.

"What is that thing?"

 _ **How am I supposed to know?**_

Curiosity got the better of him; he gently reached for one of the nearest stone.

 _ **Kit, what are you doing?**_

Naruto halted. "I'm just checking out whatever this thing is." He answered. "You said it yourself that I should find clues that'll help us get out of here."

 _ **Yes, I did. But that doesn't mean you can just touch everything you came across.**_ He reprimanded. _**Need I remind you what happened the last time you touch something that obviously shouldn't be touched?**_

Pausing for a little bit, Naruto recapped back all the times when he did something as bashful as this and how he nearly got himself killed. He shrugged. "It's fine. I mean, they're just a bunch of stones, right? What could possibly go wrong?"

Kurama groaned. _**Dear kami,**_ _**you ningens are a bunch of idiots. It's no wonder your kind has a shorter life span.**_

Ignoring his partner's remark on mankind, Naruto resumed what he was doing and stroked the stone. Surprisingly enough, the stone actually felt smooth under his touch, almost as if he was touching silk fabric. Whoever sculpted these stones was definitely a professional, that's for sure.

With his god-gifted luck as his beloved Tsunade-baachan always proclaimed, he had expected the contraption to blow up on his face or floors below him to collapse and lead him to his death or stone guardians to emerge and murder him for his idiocy. But oddly enough there was no reaction.

"Huh," He uttered after a brief of silence. "See Kurama, I told you it's going to be fi—"

The blonde was cut midsentence when all of the seven stones suddenly emitted an ethereal glow, prompting Naruto to take a step back. "W-What's going on?" He demanded as the stones began to glow brighter and brighter, almost like it was about to explode. "What's happening!?"

 _ **We're going to die, that's what going to happen!**_ The Kyuubi no Yoko barked. _**Get out of there already!**_

Naruto would've gladly obliged but before he can even do anything, the stones engulfed the entire throne room in a brilliant flash of light, forcing Naruto to shield his eyes less he wanted to be blinded.

…

"Princess Celestia, why are we heading to the Castle of the Two Sisters?" Shining asked worriedly as he trotted beside the white Alicorn. Although he wasn't a citizen of Ponyville, he had heard enough stories from his colleagues and friends that revolved around said place. One thing for sure, none of those stories were comfortable to hear.

"I need to check up on something real quick." Celestia simply replied. She must've detected the uncertainty in the Lieutenant's voice because she continued. "You don't have to follow me if you want. I can manage myself there."

Shining inhaled a shaky breath. As tempting as the offer was, he couldn't just abandon the ruler of Equestria because of some rumors. Particularly not in that castle of all places. "No, I'm good."

In the midst of their conversation, the Alicorn and Unicorn arrived at the broken bridge. The very same rope Naruto had cut loose a while ago.

"The bridge collapsed," He commented as he glanced down at the chasm and the remains of the bridge that was loosely dangling by their side of their cliff. "Stand back Princess Celestia, I got this."

Using his Unicorn capability, Shining imbued the collapsed bridge in his signature light rose-colored magic power, prompting the bridge to slowly float upwards before connecting itself to the wooden stakes on the other side and fix itself. Truth to be told, they can actually magically teleport over there but he didn't want to trouble Princess Celestia.

Pressing a hoof on the bridge, the Lieutenant tested the bridge a few times to make sure its integrity is ensured. He whistled. "Huh, Twily was right, that repair spell was useful after all!" He complimented before turning around to face Celestia. "We're free to continue."

Celestia nodded. "Good work, Lieutenant Shining."

As the two slowly walked across the newly-repaired bridge, the fog that previously obscured their visions parted away and the Castle of the Two Sisters came into view in its ruined glory. Cold shiver ran down Shining's spine when he saw the castle but he tried his best to ignore it for the sake of Celestia.

Not too long after that, the two arrived at the huge gaping hole where the castle's front entrance previously was several minutes ago. Although Shining paid it no attention as he walked in, Celestia had briefly stopped her movement and casted the broken door with a suspicious look.

"Is something wrong, Princess Celestia?" he inquired when he realized she wasn't following.

"It's nothing." She answered back as she resumed walking. "Let's move on."

 _Princess Celestia is not acting like herself._ Shining thought as he glanced at his leader with a somewhat pitiful look. _I guess even after all these years she's still haunted by that incident._

Not wanting to trouble the Alicorn, the Lieutenant decided to keep his muzzle shut and let Princess Celestia do her thing…whatever it was.

The journey throughout the castle was rather uneventful but Shining had kept his guard up in case there were any hostiles nearby. Fortunately, aside than a few spiders and other creepy crawlies that'd put Cadance into complete distress, he found none.

Their trip came to an end when Celestia and Shining arrived at an opened pair of large doors that were obviously led to the throne room. Just like the front entrance a while ago, the doors were widely opened; another thing that made her uncomfortable.

As soon as she stepped in, the Alicorn of the Sun throbbed with pain and longing as she was swarmed by various nostalgic memories. Excluding its wrecked state, the throne room appeared exactly just like how she had last seen long time ago.

Unfortunately, her memory reminiscing moment was cut short when Shining suddenly cried out. "Princess Celestia, look, there's somepony over there!"

That broke Celestia out of her deep thoughts and prompted her to look away. Sure enough, there was indeed a pony lying in the middle of the throne room. How she didn't notice him a while ago, she had no clue.

Meanwhile, Shining was a step ahead of her and had flash teleported to his side. "Hey, are you ok!?" He called out, shaking the unconscious pony.

The colt groaned a few incoherent words.

"Is he alright?" She inquired once she arrived there.

There was a brief silence before Shining spoke. "He's fine, he's just unconscious, that's all." He reported. "What is this guy doing here anyway?"

Celestia took the opportunity to examine him. Judging from his size, the blonde-maned, orange-furred stallion appeared almost the same age as Shining and was obviously an Earth Pony due to the absent of a horn or wings. Just like most ponies, he doesn't wear any piece of clothing minus the pouch strapped to his left foreleg and the fancy-looking scroll slung over his back.

"What should we do?" He inquired.

Celestia bit her lower lip, obviously thinking deeply about this. Aside than the blonde colt she was looking at, they didn't found anypony else in the Everfree Forest. Thus, it made him the most susceptible suspect so far. So Celestia came up with the only conclusion she can do at that very instant.

"Prepare the carriage. We're bringing him back to Canterlot."

 **And that's a wrap for the second chapter for Sentinel of Harmony! Don't forget to review this chapter, I'd like to hear all of you guy's opinion.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, its DE2810 again. Once again, I like to say thank you those who favorite and followed this story. It warms my heart to see so many people liking this story even though it's only the first two chapters. I also would like to thank to those who left constructive comments in the review section. I absolutely appreciate it.**

 **With that said, let's move on to the story now shall we?**

 **Welcome to the Castle of Canterlot**

"Oh Kami, where am I now?"

As the sudden flash of light's intensity ceased, the blonde opened his cerulean blue eyes and expected to see the castle ruin grounds once more. Instead, he was standing in a blank white void which he assumed was another part of his mindscape that he never treaded through. How he came up to such conclusion he had no clue. Probably due to the fact that this wasn't the first time he ventured through such places.

"Kurama?" He called out as he looked around. "Anyone?"

Silence

Frowning slightly, Naruto pondered hard on how he got here when something clicked inside his mind. "Am I…dead?"

Had he done it? Had his stupidity really became his downfall? Or was it because Kami hate him so much that he decided to conclude his life in the most stupid way possible?

Fortunately, his negative thoughts ended when he felt something shone above him. Glancing up, he was greeted with the sight of six floating hexagonal gemstones, each having their respective colors of red, purple, violet, green, yellow and blue. Bathed in pillar of white light, the well-sculptured gemstones were easily the most beautiful thing he ever saw in the blonde's life. Whoever made these stones was obviously an expert though he had this odd feeling that they weren't man-made regularly. However, as beautiful as they were, these stones also seemed to emit some sort of an aura that he couldn't help but felt ease with. Almost like him when he entered his Tailed Beast cloak.

"Uh hi?"

Naturally, the stones gave no verbal reply. Instead, they proceeded on floating closer towards and formed a ring around him. Once they were in place, the stones then began twirling around him at a constantly increasing speed until they were nothing but a glowing ring of white with him still at the centre. The stones were spinning so fast that it triggered a whirlwind that caused his blonde mane and tail to whip wildly and his orange fur to stand on their ends.

 _ **Finally…**_

The single word alone served to break him out of his stupor. That voice. It's the same one he heard when he was in the castle ruins. Did the stones just talked to him?

Whereas talking gemstones weren't the weirdest thing he had encountered in his life – there were already plenty of things that took such spot – that didn't make it any less disturbing. If he knew a better, fate had a way of frequently involving him with inanimate objects that may or may not try to kill him on sight.

 _ **For several millennia, we have stayed dormant, simply doing nothing but waiting for the arrival of the chosen one.**_

Yup, the stones were definitely talking to him. Either that or he was having a serious case of concussion from the impact of the fall.

 _ **And now you're finally here.**_

As if on cue, glittering particles was scattered from the rings and spread away from him in an outward manner. Said particles then congregate into one spot before taking shape into something, or somepony to be exact.

The pony was big, almost the same as him except more feminine-looking with a long and narrow horn protruding out of the head, a pair of bird-like wings that were as big as the rest of the body and was clad in armor plating at some parts of her body. However, what caught the blonde's attention was the pony's mane and tail that looked like they were composed of a piece of the starry night sky instead of actual hair.

He was taken aback when the pony suddenly stood on its hind legs and let out a high-pitch horse whine. Before he could even ask what was going on, tendrils of darkness began reaching out from where she stood and spread out. Naruto himself found it to be slightly unnerving when said darkness broadened across whatever plane of existence he was on, anointing its previously blank state into a contrasting black environment.

As soon as it happened, the silhouette of the pony disappeared and was replaced with another presence. A presence he couldn't make do properly aside than it being a snake-like in shape with non-symmetrical body parts consisting of paw-like left arm, a clawed right arm, a talon-tipped left foot and a hoofed right leg.

Naruto didn't have time to identify any more of its features when the dragon-like being suddenly zipped away from its spot and flew around him in an uncoordinated manner. As he flew on, the surroundings around it would contort into an array of random colors and things that his unfortunate eyes appreciate. It was as if he was looking through a broken kaleidoscope and he never liked those things in the first place.

Once again, the particles exploded in a muffled explosion before taking another form. This time, the glittering particles took the shape of another pony that looked slightly taller in comparison to the first one. With a jagged horn protruding out of the forehead, wings that resembled of an insect and absent of any distinguishable tail. Ever so often, the figure would frazzle and was momentarily replaced by another pony with different features before resuming back its original form.

Alongside that, a fraction of the glittering dusts was used to form a smaller pony, a filly to be exact, in front of it. While it didn't looked like the taller one was about to do any harm, Naruto's eyes squinted in suspicion when he noticed faint trails of the same glittering particles flowed out of the filly and was seemingly absorbed by the other. The filly didn't even seem to be notice what was happening and by the time it did, it was already slumped to the ground, either unconscious or dead.

Not giving him any time to ponder what he just saw, the stones willed the particles into another pony. This pony was slightly shorter than the ones before this with a curved horn and a much more bulky appearance. Was it clad in an armor perhaps? Further examinations indicated that it was clad in some sort of a cloak that flapped under imaginary breeze. Stomping a hoof on the 'ground', the silhouetted pony unleashed what appeared to be a mokuton jutsu when rock spikes rose out of the ground around it and reached for the sky.

Despite everything that was shown to him, the ever so oblivious Naruto still don't understand the situation. Why were the stones showing him all of this? Were they trying to brief him on a mission or something? If they were then they're certainly doing a bad job at it. Kami, even a drunken Tsunade-baachan can do better than them (though they had to wake her up whenever she snoozed)

He snapped out of his thoughts when he heard another dull explosion. Apparently, the gemstone weren't done just yet and was showing him one last thing.

Unlike the first four, the particles this time resembled no distinctive shape and was scattered all over the place like stars in a nightly-dimmed sky; no head, no arms, no legs or anything for that matter. In its lack of visual appearance however was a guttural bellow that sounded like nails scrapping on chalkboard that seemed to vertebrate across his mindscape; the first actual sound he ever heard of aside than the talking gemstones. The blonde himself flinched upon hearing it as it served to remind him of a very unpleasant memory. A memory he wished he no longer be part of.

 _ **Equestria is in great need of help, chosen one, and only you are capable of doing such feat.**_

"Me? What do you mean me? I just got here!" he demanded incredulously. "Kami, I don't even know of this Equestria you're talking about!"

Silence. Rather than giving him a straight answer, the still-spinning stones glowed insignificantly brighter.

Sensing something was about to happen to him, he cried out once more, "Hey, you didn't answer my questions!"

 _ **All of your doubts shall be answered soon enough, chosen one. For now, your utmost presence is required in the real world.**_

Not giving him any room to talk, the ring of light around him shone brighter and he found his conscious being slowly dragged into the real world.

…

As his consciousness slowly rekindled, Naruto can already tell he was in an entirely different place upon sniffing the familiar scent of disinfectant instead of the murky smell he smell the last time he was awake that lingered through the air.

Opening his cerulean blue orbs, his suspicion was confirmed when instead of the dark and craggy environment, he was greeted with bright and warm scenery.

Cautiously, the blonde stood up from the bed he was laying on and began surveying his surroundings. With the enamel white curtain that ringed around the bed he was on, the rack full of medicines and tomes on the left and the writing desk on his right not to mention the sanitized air, it didn't take a Nara to tell that he was in an infirmary of some sort. But the main question was: Who brought him here and why?

He didn't have to ponder long when the door suddenly opened and a pink mare clad in nurse attire stepped into the room.

"Oh good morning, you're finally awake I see!" The mare greeted.

Naruto could only give a silent reply at that, too shocked by the sight of the pastel-colored pony to say anything despite being one himself.

Unfazed by his lack of response, the mare casually trotted to the side of his bed and spoke, "How are you feeling at the moment? Do you feel any pain of some sort? A headache or a sore muscle perhaps?"

Still in the state of utter shock, it took a while before his brain finally registered that she just asked him several questions. "Um no, I'm good I guess."

"That's good to hear but just to be safe, I'll need to do some examinations." There was a momentarily pause before she continued on, this time in a surprised manner. "Oh and where are my manners! I'm Nurse Redheart by the way but you can call me either by Nurse or Redheart for short. And you are?"

"Uh Naruto Uzumaki." He replied back.

"Naruto…Uzumaki, huh? That's quite a peculiar name you have there." She remarked as she took a pen in her mouth and jotted a few notes down on the clipboard she was carrying the entire time.

He didn't have a comment on that. Who names their offspring as Redheart? It almost sounded like a title rather than an actual name, just like how his father was called the Yellow Flash or Gai as the Green Beast. Then again, this was an entirely different world than his so it's probably their standard etiquette of some sort.

"You said you'll be doing some examinations, what kind of examinations exactly?" he asked, recalling the previous ones he had with a certain busty blonde and a pinkhead. None of which were pleasant memories to him.

Nurse Redheart. "Don't worry. It's nothing extreme."

The whiskered blonde would be lying if he didn't have a hard time believing that.

…

Past experience had led him to believe that physical examinations involved having his joints being bent at angles that weren't possible and his mental capacity tested to the very utmost limit. Yet, Nurse Redheart did none of that. Which makes him wonder, if examinations were meant to be this simply then what the heck was he doing a long time ago?

Heeding her words close to her heart, the only things the mare ever done was just pressing her hooves on several parts of his body as well as rotating his joints all the while keeping a lookout on his facial expression for any reactions; nothing that required him to tap into Kurama's chakra for any quick recovery, not that he can do so in the first place. In a few minutes time, she was done and went back to jotting down a few more notes on the clipboard.

"Oh, that reminds me, there's someone who would like to talk to you once you're awake." She stated upon remembering. "Can you walk?"

"I-I think I can…" Removing the blanket off him, Naruto tried to take his first step once more. He stumbled for the first few moments but aside than that, he was good to go. "I'm good."

"Great!"

Heading to the door she got in from, nurse Redheart opened it and motioned Naruto to go out first. He obliged and stepped outside, only to freeze at what he saw.

The blonde probably would've stayed there gaping like a fish on land had the nurse didn't speak to him.

"Come along, we don't want to keep her waiting any longer!"

"Uh, where am I exactly?" He called out.

"Why, you're in Canterlot, of course!" She replied simply, as if that alone would satisfy him. It didn't.

"I-I see…" Shaking his head off his stupor, he ran up to catch up with the white mare that was already a few meters ahead of him. "You said we don't have to keep 'her' waiting. Who is this 'her'?"

"Why, princess Celestia of course. She's the one who brought you here."

Naruto nodded in understanding but blinked when he finally processed what she just said.

"Wait, did you say princess?"

If the white mare heard his last question, she didn't show it. "Here we are!" She declared as they arrived at a pair of golden ornamented doors that were as tall as the ceiling above them, decorated with the abstract mural of a white pony seemingly reaching for the sun above her. The image looked familiar somehow but he didn't have time to ponder about it when Redheart relentlessly opened it before nudging him in. "Now go on, she's waiting for you inside."

"A-Alright, alright, no need to push me!" He said. For a mare that was a few inches shorter than him, Redheart was surely strong and it reminded him of Sakura somehow.

As he stepped in, the blonde arrived at a hall that was as grand as any other part of the castle he came across with its well-polished marble tiled floors, several white spiraling pillars used to support the ceiling whose surface was decorated with more mural paintings depicting several ponies doing different actions he wasn't familiar of. The walls weren't excluded from the decoration either as they were installed with color-tinted glass windows representing even more ponies.

As beautiful as the scenery was, his eyes were more focused on the table that lie at the centre of the hall. He instantaneously drooled at the sight of the numerous delicacies that was splayed before his cerulean blue eyes. He didn't even realize that he had trotted to the table until it was too late.

"Ah, you're finally awake, I see."

Looking at his front, his eyes went wide in bewilderment when he found the 'her' that nurse Redheart mentioned about standing on the other side of the table. From her elegant appearance, she was obviously a mare but with a more adult-like horse appearance unlike the other ones he encountered before this. However, what shocked him the most was her rainbow-like mane that seemed to flow under the slightest flow of air and the wings that were jutting out from her sides.

Unaware of his shock, the mare trotted towards him with a grace that reflected her beautiful emergence all the while giving him a smile that he couldn't help but feel tranquil with.

"Good morning, I am Princess Celestia, the current ruler of Equestria." She introduced, revealing her smooth and rich tone of voice. "And you are?"

"I ugh ah…" The blonde mentally slapped himself. "Naruto. Naruto Uzumaki."

The Alicorn smiled gently at that, unperturbed by his strange name. "Well then, it's a pleasure meeting you, Naruto Uzumaki. You must be terribly hungry right now, why don't you help yourself to some of the food here."

Celestia then motioned a hoof to the long dining table. The blonde was practically salivating when the smell of the food finally reached his nostrils and he wasted no time in flashing to one of the end of the table in the blink of an eye. The Alicorn of the Sun reflected his action and took a seat on the other side of the table, albeit at a much calmer pace.

Just when he was about to dine in, he realized that there was no sign of meat anywhere. Naruto was just about to ask her whether if she had any meat until Kurama spoke within his head. _**Kit, horses are herbivore; they don't eat meat. You're just gonna have to make do with what you have at the moment.**_

Looking upfront, Naruto flashed Celestia a sheepish grin when he realized that she was still looking at him expectantly, obviously waiting for him to start it off as means of a courtesy, before averting his gaze at all the food on the table. Amongst all the vegetables, he didn't know what to pick first. Literally. Add the fact that he wasn't a vegetable-lover to begin with made it all the more difficult for him to make his decision.

His cerulean blue eyes then fell on a nearby platter that was holding several sandwiches. It probably looked normal and safe to eat had it weren't for the white daisy flowers that were protruding out of its edges. Is it even possible to consider those things as a legitimate food? Was it even good for stomach to begin with? Then again, it didn't look like he had any other choice seeing that it was the only thing that he deemed to be at least edible.

Following his gaze, Celestia spoke, "Those are daisy sandwiches, one of the castle chef's main specialties. Why don't you give it a try, I'm sure you won't regret it."

Unable to turn back, he gingerly took one of the sandwiches with his hooves, briefly glanced at princess Celestia one more time before inching said food closer to his muzzle and finally took a nibble.

Having experience with eating plenty of vegetables food and herbal medicines courtesy of the advice from a certain pinkhead and a busty medic, he had expected the strange meal to have the usual of taste of bitterness. Oddly enough, the daisy sandwich has none of that and surprisingly, it had the juicy taste of sweet honey flavor mixed with flower nectar that set his taste buds ablaze.

Before he even realized what was happening, he had gobbled the entire sandwich in the blinking of an eye before proceeding on taking more from the plate. Celestia simply smiled in approval at this, seemingly unfazed by his greedy eating habit. She didn't even mind when the blonde when he proceeded on other food that was available on the table and casually reached for her tea cup.

As he continued to clear the meals off the table one by one, the blonde nearly choked and spitted out the cupcake he was currently eating when he saw her casually taking a sip from an ethereally glowing teacup that were levitating midair.

"Is something the matter?" She inquired as she lowered said tea cup down.

"I-It's nothing. Just got something stuck in my throat, that's all." He quickly spoke.

She smiled amusingly at that before she spoke, "There's no need to rush. None of the food will be going anywhere."

 _Kurama, did you see that. She just lifted the teacup with chakra!_ He mentally pointed out.

 _ **I see it but she's not using chakra.**_

 _What do you mean it's not chakra?_

 _ **I can't say for sure but whatever form of energy she's using, it's definitely not Chakra.**_ He stated. _**And if my guess is correct, I'd say it's coming from that horn of hers.**_

The blonde instinctively glanced up at that. Sure enough, the spiraling horn was also engulfed in the same yellowish chakra-like glow just like the floating teacup.

Subconsciously, the blonde brushed a hoof on his own forehead, wondering why he didn't have a horn or a pair of wings just like her. Could it be that they're both of different horse race perhaps? If that was the case, what was he then and what was her?

Sadly, all these questions had to be put to the back of his mind when Celestia struck a conversation once more, "So how do you find the meal, mister Uzumaki?"

"Great!" He replied back without missing a beat before remembering who he was talking to. "I mean, the meals taste great, your majesty."

Celestia chuckled at that. "There's no need to be too formal with me, mister Uzumaki. Just princess Celestia is fine."

Naruto was surprised to hear that. "If that's the case, you can just call me Naruto then. I'm not actually the kind of title person."

Now it was the Alicorn's turn to be surprised. Being the ruler of Equestria, most ponies were usually exceptionally honored whenever she addressed them with titles. For somepony to dislike from being referred to with some sort of a title was quite rare. "Very well then, Naruto. If you don't mind, I have one question to ask.

Naruto took a second to swallow his food before he talked, "Sure, what is it?"

"Yesterday morning, a brief earthquake occurred a distance away from here and near to a town called Ponyville. Further questioning of the citizens there allowed us to pinpoint the origin of the tremor to be somewhere in the Everfree forest." The blonde continued to nonchalantly munch on his meal all the while keeping a close ear to Princess Celestia as she continued on. "After investigating the crater there, we discovered what seemed to be some sort of a trail that led to...a castle deep inside the forest; the very same place where we found your unconscious form."

The blonde stiffened at that.

"My question to you now is: What were you doing in the Everfree Forest and in the Castle of the Two Sisters of all places?" She inquired with a solemn expression. "In case you haven't known, those places aren't exactly safe for anypony to enter."

Now that his stomach was filled and his senses came back, it was only by then did he notice something was amiss. Before this, all he saw from her was kindness, now he can finally notice that this Celestia wasn't somepony you should be messing with. His instincts were internally screaming at him to be wary of her. Not in the hostile way kind of way but more towards the be-careful-of-what-you-tell-her kind of way.

Reaching for the glass of water meant for him, the blonde purposely downed it in one go as his brain churned for whatever lies he could think of. Yet, despite having a filled stomach, he found it difficult to think of such thing. Somewhere at the back of his mind, something aside than Kurama was strongly advising him to not do so.

"I'm…not from here." He finally admitted, the words slipped off his lips.

Celestia casted him a puzzled look. "What do you mean?" She inquired. "Are you saying that you're a traveler of some sort?"

Parted his muzzle open, he was about to deny such statement when a metaphorical light bulb flickered above his head. Being stuck within the confinements of his mindscape, Kurama raised an eyebrow at what the blonde was currently thinking but said nothing otherwise.

"That's right; I'm actually a traveler, a freelancer to be exact." Whether if Celestia believed him or not, she didn't show it but Naruto maintained a straight poker face just in case and continued. "You said you saw a crater inside the forest, right? That was actually a residue triggered due to the teleportation technique I used to get here. Not too soon after I landed, I was attacked by a group of wolves—"

"Timberwolves." C elestia corrected.

"…what?"

"Timberwolves. It's the name of the wolves you mentioned…" Celestia elaborated with a smile.

"Oh. Anyway, I tried to fight them back but eventually had to run away to the castle when they keep on coming back alive over and over again."

"Were you the one who broke the bridge and doors then?"

Surprised, Naruto put a sheepish smile when he realized he was caught red-handed. "Yeah, those were me; I had to make sure those Timberwolves don't chase after me." He defended. "Once I was safe, I sort of fainted from all the fatigue I've gained."

"Well, that's quite…a story you have there." Celestia concluded.

"Yeah, sorry if I caused any unwanted trouble or anything." He apologized as he scratched the back of his head.

"It's alright. I'm just glad that you're safe." She reassured. "Though I must say, it's not everyday somepony decided to fight the Timberwolves, even if you don't know what they're capable of. You must be quite skilled combat."

Naruto let out an awkward laugh. "Well, I sort of learnt a few moves throughout my travel." He waved it off, hoping that doing so would make her drop the subject.

While Celestia's lips curved into a smile, her eyes continued to have that suspicious look. The blonde was glad that he was layered in orange fur; otherwise, she would've seen him sweating bullets. "How interesting." She praised. "And I believe there's somepony who would like to hear your story as well. Follow me."

Taking one last sip of her tea, Celestia left her side of the table and exited the dining hall with Naruto in tow. As they trotted through the castle, the blonde couldn't help but be amazed by practically every unfamiliar thing they came across: the unique architecture, the numerous pony troops that were marching about the place, even the flower garden seemed fascinating to him.

"This is a beautiful place you got here." He commented, effectively breaking the silence.

"Why thank you but I'm sure you've seen other places that are far much better. You are a traveler, after all."

"I doubt that." He muttered so that only he could hear it.

Unlike Konoha or any other villages within the Fire Country, the Canterlot Castle was clean, colorful and fancy. Mostly due to the fact the shinobis were too occupied with war, hostile threats and whatnot to care about such minute details. Sure, they have the occasional cleaning chores a.k.a. the accursed D-ranked missions but as for decorating, nope, not so much.

As they conversed with one another, the two arrived at what seemed to be a garden area flourished with a spacious neatly-trimmed grassfield and a few colorful flowers patches here and there. Naruto's sight then fell on two more pastel-colored ponies who at the moment were currently sitting on one of the marble benches erected around the garden. They were casually laughing and chatting with one another until the armored one saw them approaching.

"P-Princess Celestia!"

"I hope I'm not disturbing anything important." Celestia inquired with a mirth smile.

Shining Armor fumbled over his words. Rolling her eyes at his clumsiness, the pink foalsitter took over, "Of course not, Princess Celestia. Me and Shining were just chatting to pass the time, that's all." She then averted her gaze to the blonde. She smiled. "He's finally awake, I see."

He took that as a cue to introduce himself. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, I'm a freelancer traveler."

"Hello Naruto, my name is Princess Cadence but you can call me Cadence for short."

"I'm Shining Armor, lieutenant of the Royal Canterlot Guards." He introduced, having regained his composure once more.

 _Lieutenant?_

 _ **It's probably a military ranking of some sort.**_ His Bijuu assumed. _**Just play along for now.**_

Nodding, the blonde averted his attention back to the three ponies.

"I have a favor to ask to the both of you."

"Sure, what is it?"

"Seeing that you both are free, I was wondering if you can bring our newly-profound guest here on a tour around the castle." Celestia requested, surprising Naruto at the background. "I would've done so myself but I need to attend a meeting with merchants in a few minutes time."

"Of course we'd love to!" She cheered. "It's not every day we get to have guests. Right Shining?"

"Uh…yeah sure." He said in partial disappointment, something that didn't go unnoticed by Naruto.

Celestia smiled at that. "Wonderful, I'll leave him in your capable hooves then." She responded before facing the blonde. "I look forward to seeing you again later during lunch time."

"Sure thing," He replied back, unaware of the bewildered expressions on Shining and Cadence's faces as he said so.

Still smiling, the Alicorn of the Sun trotted away from the garden, leaving the blonde under the two's care.

"So where do you want to go first, Naruto?" The pink Alicorn inquired once she was out of sight.

"Are you sure it's ok?" Naruto inquired. "I don't wanna be a drag or anything."

Understanding what he was hinting at, she quickly interjected, "It's fine really. Shining is just sad that our dates kept on being interrupted, that's all."

"I'm still here, you know." The Lieutenant grumbled. "And you make it sound like it's a good thing."

"Shining, Princess Celestia asked the two of us to do a favor for her. How can we refuse to that?"

He sighed at that. "I know but still…"

Feeling a little sympathetic for her lover, the Alicorn of Love approached him and used a hoof to lift his head up. "Tell you what, if you help me bring Naruto on a tour around the place, I'll make sure our next date to be…" The pink Alicorn paused to put in a dramatic effect. "…extra special."

Said Lieutenant perked up at that, albeit slightly. "You promise?"

"I promise."

"Alright," He said with a soft smile. "I'll trust you."

As they stared into each other's captivating eyes, the two ponies found themselves slowly inching their muzzles towards one another. And it probably would've escalated further had Naruto didn't clear his throat, a silent reminder to the two loveponies that he was there as well. Blushing, the two took a step back all the while sheepishly laughing to one another.

"So, where should we start?"

…

"This here is the kitchen area; the place where our meals are cooked and prepared!"

Naruto could only gape at that. This was a kitchen area? Kami, it was so huge! Then again, the blonde suppose he was partially at fault for this seeing that the only kitchen he ever saw was the pathetic one in his worn out apartment, Teuchi's glorious ramen stand and the occasional BBQ stand.

On the left side of the kitchen, the blonde saw a total of five stoves, four being gas-operated while the last one was traditional coal-orientated next to several oak shelves and cabinets that probably hold the small ingredients such as spices and dried food. While on the right there were the typical sinks and a dishwasher used for cutleries and other whatnots. A huge stainless steel refrigerator stood at the end of the kitchen which obviously was used to hold more food ingredients and Naruto assumed most of them being vegetables. The long and narrow table top was the key area though as it occupied practically majority of the kitchen space and was littered with numerous kitchen tools that he wasn't entirely familiar of.

Adding to the prosperous atmosphere was the numerous cooking staffs that were roaming about the place – each dressed in the standard chef uniform consisting of a white puffy hat and a white buttoned-up top – that seemingly unable to remain rooted at one spot for too long. A few passing-by ponies bowed in respect upon noticing their presences but immediately went back to work soon after.

"Quite a busy place you have here."

Cadence nodded at that. "Mmmhmm, the chefs here in the castle take their job very seriously."

"I can tell."

"Speaking of seriously…" Shining remarked, earning the other two's attention. "There's Gustave over there. Hey Gustave!"

Having seen so many ponies in the area, the shinobi had expected this Gustave character to be a pony as well. Wrong.

Naruto involuntarily took a step back when a figure emerged out of the crowd. Instead of a pony like he expected to be, Gustave was a…he didn't know what he was actually. First sightings indicates him to be a lion of some sort but with the minor difference of an eagle's head instead of a lion's, a set of four talon-tipped legs instead of a cat's paws and a body covered in feathers instead of fur. If the sight of such an unidentified mythical being wasn't strange enough, he had a black curly moustache on his yellow beak.

"Well, if it isn't Princesse Cadence and Monsieur Shining Armor!" He exclaimed in a deep French accent. "Bonjour! What brings you two here in my beloved kitchen? Another round of my wonderful breakfast perhaps?"

"Good morning to you too, Gustave. And no we're not here for second rounds." She politely replied back. "We're just here to show our guest around the castle, that's all."

Moving aside, she then proceeded on introducing the newcomer. "Gustave, this is Naruto, he's our new guest for today. Naruto, this is Gustave, he's the head chef here in this castle."

"Bonjour! Gustave le Grand, at your service!" He proudly greeted, his left forepaw raised for a (hoof)shake.

The orange stallion was skeptical at first but shook his claw nonetheless. "Naruto Uzumaki."

"As much as I wish to entertain you, I'm afraid I can't. My presence is needed for the preparations of ze lunch." He stated with an apologetic smile. "Very sorry for zis inconvience, monsieur Naruto."

Naruto inwardly groaned. First, it was mister Uzumaki, now its Monsieur Naruto. Why can't they refer to him normally?

Cadence shook her head. "Its fine Gustave, we're not planning on staying here for too long." Cadence spoke. "Come along Naruto, we still have plenty more places to explore."

…

"This is the main archive." Cadence introduced again. "It's pretty self-explanatory but this is where ponies do their studies."

Standing at one of the many balconies available, Naruto got a perfect overview of the maze of bookshelves below him. Contrast to the bustling kitchen a while ago, he only saw a few ponies trotting about the place, either dressed in scholar robes and hats or librarian suit uniforms.

"This place is huge." He commented.

"It should be. Considering how that all of this belongs to Princess Celestia."

Naruto couldn't help but whistle at that. "This is Princess Celestia's collection, huh? Did she mentioned how many years it took to gather this much." Hearing no answer, the blonde looked back only to see the two trotted down the stairs that was positioned at the side of the very balcony he was on. "Hey, wait up!"

Catching up with the couple, the blonde finally asked the question that bugged him. "So uh, why are we going inside the library again?"

"There's somepony we like you to meet." They both answered in unison.

"Who?"

"You'll see."

As they turned around a particular corner, Naruto caught the sight of a filly that was as tall as his legs. She had flat-trimmed mane and tail that were a mixed of sapphire blue and violet with a few strands being brilliant rose and was covered in a well-matched pale, mulberry-colored fur. As of the moment, it didn't appeared like she noticed their as she was too engrossed in reading the book.

"There she is!" The Lieutenant said when he saw who it was. "Hey Twily!"

Said little mare glanced at their direction upon hearing her name. She smiled brightly. "Oh hey Shiny, hey Cadence!"

"What are you reading?" Cadence said, tilting her head to get a better view of the book's content.

"Calculus." She simply replied.

"Aren't you a little too young for that?" Cadence asked with a raised brow but a knowing smile.

"Since when I'm not?" She answered cheekily before tilting her head to the side and look at the orange stallion. "Who's that?"

"Twily, meet Naruto Uzumaki, he's our guest here in the castle for today." Shining introduced. "Naruto, this is my little foal sister, Twilight Sparkle."

 _Do these ponies have a thing for weird names or something?_

 _ **I'm sure they'll say the same thing if they go to our world.**_

"Hello Twilight." He greeted with his signature foxy grin.

If he knew any better, she was scrutinizing him with those calculative eyes of her, not in the kind of a curious child seeing something new but more towards how a professor would examine an interesting specimen. "Hello." She finally said though in a much more monotone voice compared to when she greeted Shining and Cadence.

"Say, we're bringing him on a tour around the castle. You wanna join, Twilight?" Cadence asked.

"No thanks, I need to go back to studying."

"Alright then. Don't forget to join us later during lunch time. We don't want you to study yourself to death again."

"Okay." With that said, she resumed back to reading.

"Well, that was short and sweet." He pointed out once they trotted out of earshot. Not that he need to do so seeing that she was too engrossed in reading to begin with. Kami, he can probably do a Dynamic Entry behind her and she won't even bat a single eyelash.

"Sorry about that, she can be a bit shy to strangers sometimes."

Naruto instinctively looked back at the filly upon hearing the statement. "I'm not sure 'shy' is the right word."

…

"This here is the training grounds: The place where the Royal Canterlot Guards practice and hone their skills." Shining declared proudly.

Dramatic declarations aside, the castle training grounds was almost the same like any training fields back at his home village except for a few details. While Konoha's training fields came in small but large quantities, the castle's had theirs in the complete opposite and was divided into several sections that focused on different things. Some had straw dummies installed while others have obstacle courses and odd contraptions whose functions he had no clue off.

Unfortunately, as spacious as it was, there wasn't anypony training practicing in the area at that moment. Naruto was disappointed by this. With the numerous guards he saw throughout the castle wielding different sorts of weapons, he wanted to see the ponies in combat action. If he's lucky, he might learn a few things from them which he can use as his own.

"When I said we have plenty of places to explore, I don't actually mean the training grounds, you know."

"Hey, the training ground is fun to look around too."

"Not for me, it's not."

As the two engaged in another round of bickering once more, the orange stallion took the opportunity to survey the several weapons stacked at the corner consisting of mostly swords, a few spears and the occasional shield and armors. While he applauded the ponies for their means of defense, he couldn't help but wonder just how they would wield such things.

His pondering was put on hold when he sensed a looming presence behind him.

"And who in the Tartarus are you?"

Turning around, Naruto was met face to face with a stallion. A stallion he would've said hello to if it weren't for the scowl on his face.

Contrary to all the pastel colored ponies he saw, the pony standing before him had a pair of sharp golden eyes and was layered in a set of heavy armor consisting of a black Trojan helmet with red plume on top, an equally black chest plate that had the golden Canterlot Guard crest emblazoned in the centre as well as four leg armors that was layered over one another to increase protection efficiency over his obsidian black fur.

"General Iron Hoof!" In a blur of purple, Shining appeared beside him in a firm stance with his head raised high; a standard military posture that signified a soldier's discipline and firm resolution.

"Lieutenant Shining," The black pony began in a deep rough voice, his piercing glare never straying away from the blonde. "I've received reports of a civilian pony roaming about the castle grounds. Care to explain what's all that about?"

"This is Naruto Uzumaki. He's a guest of Princess Celestia."

"A guest?"

"We found him unconscious in the Everfree forest yesterday and it was Princess Celestia who ordered him to be brought here for medical treatment."

"I see." He said after a long silence, his sharp gaze unraveled as he stared at the blonde. Naruto wasn't far off either and returned his gaze with his own.

"Naruto Uzumaki, huh?" He spoke out slowly, almost as if he was testing out how it will sound like when pronounced. "I'm a keeping an eye on you, Uzumaki."

With the final words said, General Iron Hoof turned around and left. Once he was out of sight, Shining let out a breath he didn't realized he was holding while Naruto maintained his composure.

"Who's that?"

"That's General Iron Hoof. He's the leader of the Canterlot Royal Guards."

"He's a genuine prick. I can say that much."

Shining cracked a smile at that. "He's always like that." He agreed. "But I'm more surprised that you managed to maintain your composure in front of him. Most ponies won't even bother making eye contact the first time they saw him."

The blonde shrugged at that. "Let's just say I've dealt with ponies that were much worse than him." The statement alone picked Shining and Cadence's curiosity but they didn't delved on it further when he showed no sign of telling.

"Speaking of which, it's nearly time for lunch. Let's head to the dining hall where Princess Celestia is waiting."

Almost instantaneously, Naruto's stomach groaned and he found himself unconsciously licking his lips at the prospect of eating another batch of daisy sandwiches. Even though he already had quite a few not too long ago.

"Sure thing, lead the way." He quickly agreed, not bothering to hide his excitement.

With Cadence and Shining upfront leading the way, he was just about to follow them when he suddenly felt something.

 _What was that?_ He questioned to himself as he looked around in pure confusion _. I could've sworn I felt something just now._

Whereas his battle instincts weren't tingling, something was tugging him at back of his mind, something bad. And it was never wrong before this.

Finally making up his mind, the orange stallion casted the couple one last glances before silently trotting to the opposite direction.

…

Relying on his instincts alone, the blonde found himself wandering into a part of the Canterlot castle he haven't went through; he was in unchartered territory. As indicated by the General Iron Hoof's reaction upon seeing him, he's going to assume that his presence in the castle wasn't notified to all the staffs. As such, he needed to keep a lookout on all the guards that were patrolling by. Simple as that. At least, it would've been simple had it weren't for the fact he now had hooves that does not go well with the marble floor.

Eventually, Naruto found himself on another grass patch field located on the other side of the castle with nopony in sight, something that greatly puzzled the blonde. If there wasn't anyone in the area then why were his senses telling him to get here then? Could it be that he was just imagining things? He shook his head at such thing. No, something was definitely going to happen here. He can feel it – His instincts never failed him before and it never will now – but what?

The blonde broke out of the stupor when a piece of papyrus paper flew across his line of sight and landed near his feet. Curiosity got the better of him; he picked it up and gave it a quick read. As expected, he couldn't understand a single since it was written in this world's language. But why was it here?

"Help!"

Glancing up, his eyes went wide in absolute bewilderment when he saw a certain purple dangling helplessly on one of the crenellation gaps several meters above his very spot. Even though he was living in a world full of pastel-colored ponies, the blonde can easily recognize the filly from a mile away.

"Twilight!"

"Naruto?" She said as she looked down at him, tears swelling under her eyes. "I-I can't hold on much longer!"

"Hang on!"

Easier said than done. Without Chakra in his disposal, there was no way for him to get up there in time. Going around it was definitely out of the question either since that would take a much longer time. So what should he do? More importantly, what can he do?

His heart took a double take when the inevitable happened and Twilight's hoof grip on the edge finally gave up and she plummeted down with an echoing scream. His mind gone blank, Naruto dropped the paper and galloped straight for her falling figure with all the agility his Chakra-less body can muster.

…

"Are you sure he was with you the entire time?" Celestia inquired. She had been in the dining hall, simply waiting for lunch to be served as well as the three to arrive, when Shining and Cadence busted into the place with distressed looks. Needless to say, it can't be anything good.

Her suspicion was confirmed when she heard their story of how the blonde suddenly disappeared just when they were about to head for dining hall, almost without a single trace of sound.

"Yes, he was with us throughout the whole time but then he suddenly disappeared just when we're heading to the dining hall!" Cadence spoke, concern evident in her tone of voice as she paced back and forth.

"I'm sure he's fine. He probably went to the toilet or something." Shining tried to calm her down.

"But we haven't showed him where the bathroom is!"

"…oh right."

"Alright, that's enough you two." She firmly declared, earning their attention at once. It was just two words yet it was enough to keep them both quiet. "There's no need to fight here. We'll call in the guards here and conduct an extensive search for him around the area."

"Extensive search for who?" Blonde inquired as he sneaked his head between the gaps of the door.

"Naruto!" The three exclaimed in unison. "Where on Equestria have you been? We've been looking all over for you."

The blonde sheepishly rubbed the back of his head at that. "Yeah, sorry about that. Got something to do for a bit."

"Do what exactly?" Celestia questioned.

"Yeah, about that…" Rather than answering her directly, Naruto stepped into the dining hall, revealing somepony that they didn't expect to be there at all on his backside. "Hey Shiny, hey Cadence, hey Princess Celestia!" The purple cheerfully greeted as she stood on Naruto's backside, as if they were old buddies

Said three ponies could only stare at the two with bewilderment at that. Then, in unison, they spoke, "Twilight!?"

"It's kind of a long story."

…

Time seemed to go in slow motion as he watched Twilight plummeted down. Under the current speed he was in and at the rate she was falling, he didn't think he'd make it in time to rescue her. The negative thought alone made his heart quenched.

However, just when he thought he wouldn't make it, a surge of energy suddenly coursed through his veins and the blonde soon found himself galloping horizontally along the castle walls in a speed that would put the Wonderbolts to utter shame.

As shocked as he was, he didn't have time to question what just happened and immediately jumped off and caught the little filly mid-air. Once he was secured under his embrace, he prepared himself for impact all the while making sure that she won't be affected by the wall. It wasn't going to go well for his side but he couldn't care less so as long as she's safe.

Thud!

Yup, definitely won't go well for him. He probably broke a few horse bones now that he thought about.

Craning his head forward, the blonde couldn't help but crack a smile when he saw the purple filly still had her eyes closed shut and was shaking fervently, still unaware of her safety. He gave her a quick nudge.

"Twilight?"

The filly opened her eyes slowly at that. "W-What happened? How did I—" She stammered, confusion etched as she looked at her surroundings. "Did you save me?"

Naruto nodded in confirmation at that before sporting a concerned look. "Are you alright? You're not hurt anywhere now, are you?"

"N-No, I'm fine, I think…"

Naruto sighed in relief before flashing him a foxy grin all the while ignoring the pain that was coursing through his body. "That's good to know."He said. "In any case, did anyone ever mention how heavy you are?"

…

Naruto wasn't kidding when he said it was a long story. He himself didn't know how to explain the situation seeing that it happened due to his own pure instincts. Fortunately, the three weren't too keen on hearing the details, mostly because they were also occupied with eating lunch as well. By the time he was done, the table was already cleared off any more food mostly by him.

"This is the second time you've surprised me."

"He was so fast. I really thought I was goner!" Twilight added her two-cent excitedly, still caught up by the incident. An act that was obviously out of her character if the three's perplexed looks was of any indication.

"While I applaud your desire to study more, Twilight, you should always be careful with yourself." Celestia spoke. "It was a good thing mister Naruto—"

"Naruto." The shinobi interjected.

"—Naruto was nearby and rescued you. Otherwise, things would've turned out for the worse."

"The Princess is right, Twily." Shining scolded sternly, his older brother instincts kicked in. "You really need to be careful next time you read on the move."

The purple filly slumped at that. "I know, I'm sorry for that you guys. I really am. I'll promise to be very careful."

"Let's just be glad that she's fine." Naruto defended. "What matters the most now is that Twilight is alright."

"He's right." Cadence agreed upon seeing her lovable foal's down cast expression. "Let's just forget that this ever happened. No point crying over spilt milk, right?"

The ponies present silently agreed at that. There was no point in dwelling over something that has happened in the past.

"Unwanted incidents aside, how have you found the tour around Canterlot castle so far, Naruto?"

"It was amazing. I honestly didn't expect this place to be so beautiful!" was his honest feedback, munching on one last daisy sandwich.

He wasn't joking about that. This place certainly was beautiful, way beautiful than Konoha or any other villages within the Fire Country if he must say so himself.

Celestia smiled at that. "I'm glad you hear that." The white Alicorn said. "Because this will be your home for now."

The orange stallion nearly spitted out his daisy sandwich upon hearing that. "Wait, what?"

"Seeing that this is your first time here in Canterlot, I figured I'd let you stay here in the castle to save you the effort from having to spend additional effort and money to find a place to stay." She elaborated. "In fact, I've even requested my servants to prepare a room just for you while you went on your tour."

Twilight evidently perked up at that. The same goes for Cadence and Shining though the latter two were more towards surprise.

"Are you sure about this? I don't want to be a drag or anything." He asked for the second time of that day.

"But of course. After everything you've done, it would only plausible for us to return the gesture by doing so."

Naruto pondered hard on this. As a shinobi, staying in one place for too long was never a good idea. But at the same time, he couldn't just refuse the offer, especially if said offer came from a princess of all ponies. He sighed. Then grinned afterwards.

"So where do I hit the sack then?"

 **That's it for chapter 3 of Sentinel of Harmony. Don't forget to leave a review, as well as follow and favorite this story – in case you haven't done – so for further updates. More reviews means more updates, more updates leads to even more reviews and the cycle goes on!**


	4. Chapter 4

**An Unforeseen Rescue Mission**

Several days had passed since the blonde arrived at the Canterlot castle. During his stay, the blonde had made sure to not reveal too much of his identity all the while gathering as many information on this world as he can. Being in a world that was practically different to his own in terms of physics and other logical whatnot, he had expected to see and hear weird things on a daily basis. He had no idea how right he was actually.

Shining and Cadence continued to be his trusty tour guides and would visit him whenever they were available while Celestia and Twilight would occasionally accompany him from time to time as well. Although none of them mentioned it, he got a feeling he'll need to leave the castle soon. It would be unwise for him to stay put under somepony's hospitality for this long, especially if said somepony were part of the royalty. In the mean time, he supposed he'll enjoy the fun while it lasted.

Naturally, Naruto didn't spend his time doing absolute nothing. In fact, the blonde and the fox had spent the last few days trying to figure out why he couldn't utilize Chakra like before. Needless to say, he had mixed feelings on what he learnt.

First off, his newly-profound pony body possessed lesser Tenketsu points than his original. While this may sound like a bad thing to most Shinobis, it didn't actually affect him too much due to his undiminished large Chakra reserve. Furthermore, from what Kurama speculated, having lesser number of Tenketsu points actually allowed him to have a much more efficient control over his Chakra; still not enough for him to do Genjutsu sadly but enough to prevent him from wasting too much.

Secondly, his Chakra control had been reset to zero, which explained why he couldn't do a single thing against the Timberwolves in the Everfree forest. Kurama had speculated that this problem arose due to an imbalance between his Spiritual and Physical energy caused by his having an entirely new form a.k.a pony form. While this may seem bad news – especially to a veteran Shinobi like him – it was nothing he couldn't restore with daily practice. Sure, it'd probably take him several years to regain said control back but he suppose it was better than having it completely removed.

All in all, things were finally looking up for him…for now at least.

"Wow, this is really good!"

Earlier today, Celestia figured he had stayed behind the castle walls long enough and suggested to bring him to the city outside for breakfast for a change. The blonde eagerly accepted the offer. He would be lying to himself if he said he wasn't curious on how the rest of city looked like. And he wasn't disappointed once he did.

Whereas Konoha came out as a massively-populated suburban town, Canterlot was more sophisticated than that with its numerous ivory towers and golden spires. It almost looked like a place that originated from a fairy tale!

As of the moment, the orange stallion found himself seated on one of the tables outside a cafe, munching on what looked like colorful mini sandwiches they called Macarons; something he found to be as equally delicious as Gusteau's daisy sandwiches. From what Celestia speculated, the café they was one of the top notch in Canterlot and was well known for their daily delectable choice of appetizers.

"Careful now, Naruto. You'll choke if you ate them that fast." Cadence giggled. "Just like how Shining choked on popcorn in our last date."

"Cadence…" Shining groaned beside her. "You promised me you won't tell that to anypony."

Sadly for him, his plea fell deaf on anypony's ears as they were too occupied with laughing at his misfit.

"It's fine, I'm a fast eater." As if to prove his point, the blonde dive his snout into the bag before coming back up carrying a mouthful of macaron. "Shee wghat ai meen?"

Having grown accustomed to his random antics, they could only laugh and shake their heads at the blonde.

Grinning at his achievement, the blonde was about to pop in another macaron when he noticed something amiss. "By the way, where's Twilight?"

Not too soon after he said, Naruto felt a tug on his blonde tail, causing the blonde to involuntary shudder in surprise.

"Does that answer your question, Naruto?" Shining said with a smirk.

Ignoring the knight's remark, he craned his head to look at the purple filly that was currently cuddling his blonde fluffy tail in the same way a toddler would hug their favorite plush.

"Twilight, what are you doing?" He inquired in which he already knew the answer.

"Your tail feels really good, Naruto." She responded dreamily as she tightened her grip on it.

"Twilight, can you let go of my tail?" The blonde wasn't sure if this applied to everypony or just him but he found it to be highly uncomfortable whenever a pony decided to touch his tail, regardless if it was on purpose or by accident. It just felt…uncomfortable. "Please?"

Twilight gave him an inscrutable gaze, obviously pondering over her decisions. "Ok then."

Naruto nodded in appreciation but soon scowled later on when the foal jumped onto his back and began admiring his mane next. "Twilight…"

"I'm glad to see that all of you are enjoying themselves." Celestia spoke.

Naruto mentally berated himself. He was so caught up in the moment that he totally forgot she was there as well, casually sipping her tea on the table next to them. He was just about to give remark on but was beaten to it when another group of ponies approached the ruler.

The blonde took a brief moment to furtively assess the Alicorn of the Sun. Being a former hero to Konoha on a few occasions; he wasn't unfamiliar to the excessive fame that came along with it. However, that fame soon turned its back against him when the fangirls arrived into the picture. Thanks to them, he couldn't walk around the village without encountering at least one of them on every corner. Kami, he'd spent more time going stealthy around the village than during missions.

Celestia wasn't like him however; her pale magenta irises sparkled with kindnesss and generosity as she patiently heard each and every one of them out before voicing out her opinion on the matter at hand. Ever so often, a few ponies would approach her and give the Alicorn presents in which she'd graciously accept with a polite thank you. She didn't even mind when a bunch of overexcited fillies decided to huddle around her legs. Naruto found himself smiling at the sight. She almost reminded him of the Sandaime's kindess except more motherly.

"Is there something on my face?" Celestia inquired curiously after the last filly left and she noticed his dazed look.

"O-Oh, it's nothing." He replied a little too quickly before diving his face into his bag of Macarons in order to hide his beet red face.

Celestia quirked an eyebrow but didn't press on it. "I see." Glancing to one of her nearby guard, she gave a quick nod when he saluted before looking back at the group "In any case, it is time for me to take my leave."

He was perplexed by that. "Already?" He said, failing to mask the disappointment in his voice. "But we just got here!"

"I wish I wouldn't either but an urgent matter had come up back at the castle that requires my utmost attention." She elaborated before facing to the rest. "Will it be ok if I leave him under your care once more?"

Shining nodded in understanding. "But of course, Princess Celestia."

"I'll see all of you back at the castle later at dinner."

The orange stallion watched as the white Alicorn went out of sight. It's not even a full minute and the shinobi found himself already missing her wonderful company. Don't get him wrong, Shining, Cadence and Twilight had proven to be quite a great company as well but he preferred her companionship better.

"What's wrong, Naruto?" Twilight asked when she saw the forlorn look on his face, effectively earning him Shining and Cadence's immediate nattention.

"Is she usually busy like this?" He asked out of the blue.

Cadence and Shining eyed each other before shrugging. "Not usually but when she does it usually long last for the whole daylight."

"Doesn't she have somepony that can take over some of her duties or something?"

"Well, there's Kibitz but his job is only keeping an eye on her schedules and make sure she's on time."

Naruto gave them an impassive look. "That's gotta suck."

…

With Cadence and Shining leading the group once more, they continued the tour around Canterlot, or a small yet important part of it from what Twilight whispered to him. The first place they went to was another cake shop that Cadence suggested. Contrary to the first one they came a while ago, this one was more orientated on larger pastries such as fruit shortcakes and puddings. Being the nice host she was, the Princess proceeded on telling him the types of delicacies that were available though the blonde was too distracted with the delicacies before him to hear properly.

Seeing the look of pure hunger on Naruto's face, Cadence offered him a few spare Bits for him to spend on. While he appreciated the thought, he didn't want to become a charity case. Unfortunately, the Alicorn of Love didn't share the same thought as him and 'kindly' convinced him to take the Bits.

Even the siblings themselves were silently signaling him to take it since they were aware of how much of a stubborn mare Cadence can be. Naruto obliged in the end though that doesn't mean he was happy with it. One way or another, he was going to repay her back someday.

Moving on, the group then visited Twilight's favorite book shop where she proceeded on buying a few hardbacks for herself. While he was curious on what else she needed considering how she had full access to the castle's library, he doubted it would be wise to question the little purple filly. Then again, he doubted he'd be able to garner her attention to begin with considering how she entered what Shining called her 'Study mode'.

Seeing that everypony was minding their respective interest while waiting for Twilight to make up her decision, the blonde decided to help himself to some books, only to deadpan afterwards when he remembered that he couldn't read this world's language just yet. If he was going to stay in this world, he'll need to learn how to read and write ASAP.

Their next destination was proven to be the bizarre amongst all and it was chosen by no other than Shining Armor himself.

The store they came into looked like a toy store of some sort and were loaded with action figures and other geeky trinkets that he obviously wasn't familiar of. He had came across stores like this in Konoha but never actually paid that much attention to them since they don't serve anything beneficial to him, or even any shinobis for that matter. In fact, one of the shops had kicked him out of the store all because he touched one of his merchandise without permission.

"Does he usually take this long?"

From what he gathered, the white stallion was confronted with what seemed to be five packs of trading cards on the counter, each looking as equally identical to the other. Yet, Shining was examining each and every single one of them the same way a geologist would examine a dull yet peculiar rock, and he had been doing so for the last half an hour.

Cadence smiled and shook her head. "Yes and no. Usually it would take him about an hour to make up his mind but just for today he needs to take extra precaution since they're releasing the new expansion set."

Naruto stared at her like she had just grown another head. "The expansion of what now?"

"They're just a bunch of nerdy stuff." Twilight interjected. "Nothing particularly important."

"I heard that." Shining called out, having heard it despite being on the other end of the store.

"If you want, Naruto, you can go ahead and explore the rest of the city while we stay behind."

Naruto shook at that. "It's fine. I can wait." _Hopefully._

She nodded. There was a brief silence between the three before she spoke once more. "So Naruto," Cadence began, effectively earning the orange stallion's attention. "What's your thought on Princess Celestia?"

He blinked at the question. If he was expecting something, it certainly wasn't that. "What?"

The Alicorn of Love smirked at his response and rephrased her question, "What do you think of Princess Celestia?"

"W-Well, she's great," Naruto replied before realizing her mistake. "I mean, she's a great leader considering how she's still willing to spend some time with you guys and greet other ponies despite her tight schedule. She's also a great hostess seeing how she's willing to bring a stranger pony like me to live inside the castle. "

The Alicorn nodded though it didn't seemed like she was satisfied just yet. "I see." She pressed, scooting closer to his side, an action that was easily noticed by Naruto. "Anything else?"

"What do you mean?"

The Alicorn of Love was now practically entering his personal space and was now staring at him straight in the eyes as if she was trying to look for her answers there. "Oh, I'm sure you know exactly what I mean."

Naruto gave her a fixed stare. "You know what; I saw this odd-looking shop a while ago but never had the chance to check it out. Maybe I'll go ahead and go there now while waiting for Shining to finish up. See ya ponies in a few hours time." As fast as a Wonderbolt could, the blonde swiftly disappeared out of the store, not bothering to wait for any of their response, leaving Cadence with a victorious smile behind.

"What was that all about?" Twilight asked out loud, having seen the exchange but no clue what it was all about.

Cadence giggled. "Oh nothing, Twilight." She responded back though the peculiar smile on her face meant otherwise. "Nothing at all."

…

 _ **Gaki, do you even know where you're going?**_

 _Anywhere but there. Seriously, I understand some pe—ponies have weird hobbies to take care of but that's just downright ridiculous._

 _ **I'm pretty sure they'll say the same thing to you if they see you slurping on ramen on a daily basis.**_

 _Hey, I eat ramen not as a hobby but because they're essential to me!_

Kurama snorted derisively at that _._ _ **Exactly my point.**_

No longer in the mood to entertain, the orange stallion ended the conversation right there. It was only by then did he notice the strange looks directed to him, or his choice of clothing in particular.

In normal circumstances, he wouldn't pay them much attention but now he found them to be quite unnerving somehow. It's probably due to the fact that he was now layered in orange fur with blonde mane and tail. Something he still can't grasp upon regardless how many days had passed.

Speaking of fur, Naruto frowned as he glanced down at his newly-profound furry coat. While he had no qualms with the orange color, he figured he need to find a way to cover his body ASAP. He already stood out like a sore hoof back in Konoha, he didn't need the same thing to happen to him again in this world. Kami knew he needed it.

Sadly, Kurama didn't share the same opinion as him and snorted at his thought. _ **Like that's going to happen anytime soon.**_

 _Glad to know you're always on my side, Kurama._ He responded sarcastically.

 _ **Kit, if there is one thing I learnt from being stuck inside you, it's that Kami loves screwing with your life.**_

 _Yeah well, I doubt we'll be having that problem in this world._

Having too caught in his mental argument, the blonde didn't realize he was trotting right into the path of another pony until he roughly bumped into them. "Hey, watch it!"

Shaking his head, the blonde couldn't help but blink at what he saw. If he knew any better, he'd say this was the first time he saw a pony being so out of place.

Unlike all the other pastel-colored, well-flourished ponies he had came across, the stallion he bumped into was rather burly in size, with flat trimmed greasy black mane and uneven shaggy brown fur coat that made him look like he haven't groomed them in ages. Kami, he won't be surprised if he really did actually.

The stallion wasn't alone however as several more stallions of same caliber stood behind him, each retaining their separate features that were meant to make them look more intimidating.

"Oh sorry about that." Naruto apologized as he took a step back. "I wasn't looking where I was going."

The stallion upfront simply glared at him, snorted and trotted away, not bothering to verbally acknowledge his apology. His goons followed suit afterwards, each giving him their own fair shares of glares. Obviously they were trying to intimidate him but Naruto had seen things that were much scarier than a bunch of ugly horses so he simply gave them an absent look.

 _ **Well, that went well. Here I was hoping they'd pick a fight with you.**_

Silently agreeing with his Bijuu, the orange stallion watched at their retreating figures. He didn't know why but for some reason his instincts began to tingle the second he made eye contact with said stallion. Almost like the time back when Twilight was in danger. His worry escalated further when they turned around the corner and disappeared out of sight.

Glancing behind, he made sure his tour guides weren't around before going off to pursuit the suspicious group, completely unaware of the lone pony hiding that was silently watching his every movement from the rooftops above. The pony stayed there a few seconds before disappearing out of sight.

…

"What's wrong, Cadence?" Said Alicorn stopped looking outside the window in favor of her lover who was still in his little dilemma. "You've been staring for a long time already."

Cadence sighed. "It's nothing. I'm just worried about Naruto, that's all."

Shining quirked an eyebrow at her. "Worried?" Using his Unicorn magic, the stallion lifted up the third pack, examined it from top to bottom, before lowering it back along with its brethren. "Weren't you the one who sent him out?"

"That's exactly why I'm getting worried." She confided before muttering the next statement to herself. "Maybe I shouldn't have teased him about Princess Celestia, after all."

Whether if Shining heard her last statement or not, he didn't show it. "I'm sure he's fine." He consoled, gently rubbing the first pack to identify its content but to no avail. "I mean, it's not like this is the first time he disappeared on us."

"I really hope so." Naruto was like an enigma to them all. Aside than his name and his status as a traveler, they didn't know much about him. They've tried to ask him but the orange stallion always found a way to dodge their questions.

Another trait about the blonde that they knew was that he's fast. Really fast. One second, he was there with them. The next thing they knew, he was gone without a word, as if he just teleported or something which was impossibly since he's obviously not a Unicorn.

"I just hope he doesn't go too far off this time."

…

"This is bad." Naruto muttered to no one in particular. "This is really really bad."

After loosely following the suspicious group all the while making sure they didn't saw him, the blonde arrived at a building that was probably meant to be a low-leveled train station if the railway tracks that emerged from the other side were of any indication. A rather colorful train was currently parked on the railway, the very same train the ponies went in. Naruto wordlessly followed suit and managed to enter the last train carriage through the backdoor while the workers weren't facing in his direction.

Good news, the whole carriage acted as storage for keeping passengers' luggage and goods so he didn't have plenty of hiding cover should anypony came in to check. The bad news, the train lurched slightly as soon as he stepped in. It seemed he had board the train at the wrong time.

"All aboard!~~"

Yup, definitely at the wrong time.

And here he was now, blankly staring at the ever changing view outside. His worry worsened when the scenery outside drastically changed from ivory towers with golden spires to nothing but green forests and mountain tops. At the speed the public transport, he silently prayed to whatever deities in this realm that this train traveled both ways because he honestly didn't want to travel back to Canterlot on foot.

 _ **As much as I want to share your concern, I believe you boarded this train for a reason aside than sightseeing.**_

The blonde sighed. The fox was right. He had something to do here. He greatly hoped that this wasn't a wild goose chase in the end. Otherwise, he'll never hear the end of it.

Despite lacking in general knowledge, the orange stallion was quite aware that the main purpose of a train was to transport people to other places in the shortest time length possible. Kami, he even encountered one back when he was a Genin, minus the small fact that it was made entirely out of steel and was loaded with modern weaponries like kunai-firing miniguns and whatnot.

So why was it empty?

Contrary to what he expected from a public transport, the wagon he walked into was completely devoid of any living presence. It almost looked like abandoned somehow. The blonde can barely hear any sound aside than the rumbling of the train, something he found to be quite endearing somehow.

"Where is everypony?"

 _ **I'm sensing a large amount of Chakra-like presence gathered up ahead. It seems they're all gathered in the front carriage.**_

As informative as it was, the statement served to make the blonde more confused than anything else. There were five passenger cars in total; each can occupy roughly around twenty ponies, so why was everypony all huddled there while leaving the rest was all empty? That didn't make any sense at all. Something was definitely wrong here.

Not finding any answer by staying here anytime soon, Naruto trotted on and approached the door on the opposite side of the carriage. He was several feet away from said door when Kurama suddenly spoke.

 _ **Gaki, hold up. We got company coming in and it doesn't look like they're friendly.**_

He froze at that. True to the fox's words, the blonde could see two faint silhouettes forming on the window top of the door door before the door handle suddenly rotated and the well-lacquered door slowly swung open.

"This sucks!" One of the two stallions fumed out in utter frustration. "Why do we have to check each wagons anyway!?"

Two stallions stepped into the carriage. Both were of the unicorn race judging from the miniature horns on their foreheads with one of them having ash grey-colored fur and cobalt-black mane while the other had silver mane and dirty brown fur.

"I mean look at all of this!" He added, dramatically swinging a hoof across the wagons interior to prove his point. "There's not a single pony in sight!"

If his companion was annoyed, he didn't show it. "Boss wants us to check for anymore passengers and that's what exactly what we're doing."His partner paused for a bit before continuing. "That and we gotta make sure the Royal Guards aren't chasing our tail. Or else this whole thing would've been for nothing."

The first one snorted in derision at that. "You mean the Canterlot Royal Guards? Pffffft, those ponies are never good at anything aside than being pretty. I doubt they'd even notice us hijacking this train in the first place!"

"Oh shut yer trap already. If you're that pissed off then why don't you go ahead and say it straight at the boss' snout then?" The second stallion finally snapped, having fed up with his nonstop ranting and surprising the former who obviously didn't expect such an outburst if his wide eyes were of any indication. "Just don't come back barking at me when he cuts off your pay for not listening to orders."

"Ugh alright alright I'll come!" The first one finally conceded. "But you owe me an apple cider once this is over."

The latter stared at him incredulously at that. "Me? You're the one who should've owed me a drink!"

"No, I don't!"

"You puked on me!"

The two stallions continued bickering on after that, spouting nothing but insults to one another.

It was unfortunate, really. Had they pay more attention to their surroundings, they would've noticed the strong draft was that flowing in from one of the opened windows.

…

"So I was right. Those ponies were up to no good, after all."

In the shortest time possible, he had managed to discreetly open one of the windows available and hauled himself above before they could see a sliver of his blonde tail. With no Chakra at his immediate disposal, Naruto was resolved to using a kunai to keep himself pinned on the roof of the car all while simultaneously ignoring the gale force that threatened to throw him off the train. It wasn't comfy by means but he can manage.

 _ **So what are you going to do about it?**_

The blonde glanced behind at that. Aside than the thick foliage that was zooming past him, the faraway view of the mountain tops and the blue skies above, he saw nopony in sight. He sighed. As much as he hated to admit it, the bandit had a point. It doesn't look like Canterlot Guards had taken notice of what happened and by the time they did, it'd probably be too late. So there was one thing left for him to do…

"Isn't it obvious?"

…

"Those two are taking their sweet time."

Just as what Kurama sensed, the ponies were all gathered inside the first wagon. The only thing he failed to mention was the fact that they were all tied up with ropes by the very stallions Naruto had been chasing after from the very beginning.

"Skipper," He began, directing the name to a stallion that was comparatively two sizes smaller than any of them but as equally burly as the rest of them regardless. "Go check on them."

"Got it, boss." Giving him one last salute, Skipper disappeared through the door.

"By the way boss, why do we need those two to patrol the rest of the train anyway? We already checked all of them one by one a while ago." One of the bandit ponies asked quizzically.

"Yeah, it's not like anypony is going to follow us." Another pony agreed.

"Yeah well, we gotta make sure everything is secure especially when we've gotten this far." The leader interjected before looking somewhere else where a certain white mare was sitting. He grinned. "Isn't that right, miss?"

The mare averted her gaze from the window to look at him through her black shades but gave no comment otherwise. Contrary to the 'naked' ponies around, said mare was dressed in a hat and trench coat that covered her entire figure excluding her white head, hooves and light pink tail. A pair of exotic black shades were used to cover her eyes.

Trotting closer to the mare, he spoke in a mock formal tone, "If I may, it is truly an honor to actually meet you here of all places. Had it weren't for the current situation we're in, we would've have met each other on a much better ter—

"Enough with the formalities and cut to the chase," She finally spoke, revealing her deep accent. "What do you want from me?"

The bandit chuckled, unperturbed by her rude interruption. "Oh, I'm pretty sure you know what I want." He acknowledged. "One million bits, all in hard cold cash. Nothing more, nothing less."

If she was surprised, she didn't show it. "Unless I'm of royalty descendants with Princess Celestia, there's no way I can have that much money."

"Oh, don't worry, you don't," The bandit said with a merciless laugh before leaning forward until he was face to face with her. "But I'm sure your husband does."

A frown marred her delicate feature upon hearing that. "My husband will never submit to your demands."

He grinned, delighted by her slight sign of reaction. "Oh, we'll see about that."

The bandit was about to trot away after that but stopped within his tracks when she spoke.

"You won't get away from this. My husband has close relation with the Canterlot Royal Guards. They'll be swarming this train any minute now."

"Sorry to pop your bubble, sweetheart, but they won't." He chuckled evilly. "I don't know if you notice this but the Royal Guards aren't exactly the most competent force in Equestria."

"We'll see about that."

"Getting arrogant now, are we?" He spoke, resting a hoof under her chin so that she was looking at him. "We'll see how arrogant you'll get once we're done with—"

Thump!

"Huh?" Instinctively, everypony stared at the ceiling above where the sound originated from. "What was that?"

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

"Is Thumper at the roof again? I thought I already told him to come down just now!"

"Uh boss, he did. In fact, Thumper's right here with us."

"What?"

Sure enough, the stallion he referred to was actually inside the wagon along with them, looking as confused as everypony else. So wait, if he was here…

Then who's up there making the ruckus up there then?

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

Thump!

"You two," The leader ordered, pointing a hoof to the two stallions standing guard near the door. "Go check it out."

Muttering their answers, said two Earth Ponies opened the door and stepped outside. The door soundlessly closed behind them courtesy of its spring mechanism. A momentary silence lingered by before they heard several shouting from outside.

"Hey, who's up there?"

"We know you're up there! Show yourself!"

More silence

"Hey, who the hay are you!?"

"Stop him!"

"Ack—!"

"Gah!"

Instinctively, the bandit ponies inside the wagon went defensive when they heard the noise of what seemed to a fight going outside. Their suspicion was soon confirmed when the door slammed open and the Earth Ponies came crashing in a heap followed by an orange stallion that jumped over their unconscious forms before galloping straight for them.

Using the momentary confusion to a good use, the blonde lunged at the first bandit he saw. Hooking a forehoof around his neck, he slammed the pony's head right into the ground with a perceptible crack. He collapsed, cradling his no doubt broken nose.

Having regained their respective composure in time, the second pony after that charged at the orange stallion next. Unfortunately, he received the same fate as the first one when the orange stallion hopped up and gripped the bars that make do the edge of the overhead compartment. Swinging himself forward to gain momentum, Naruto subjected him to a reverse donkey kick in the chest, sending him flying to the other end of the car.

While the third, fourth and the leader had managed to duck in time, the fifth Unicorn bandit wasn't so lucky and was subjected to a combined weight of two grown ponies that barreled at him at fifty miles per hour. Even the wooden door on the opposite side had cracked under the sudden force.

Using the crowbar he was wielding, the third pony swung at him. Naruto quickly side stepped and let the tool-turn-weapon harmlessly zipped right on the spot where he previously was. Instead, he struck the first pony from before that had attempted to sneak on Naruto from behind with an audible clunk. Said unfortunate pony only had a brief second before his brain registered the pain and he crumpled on his back.

Realizing his mistake, the bandit was about to curse but barely mentioned the first syllable when Naruto disarmed him of his crowbar and smacked him right the neck; not enough to break anything important but enough to make him no longer a threat.

"Watch your language, there are foals on this train." He whispered to his ear as the bandit flopped to the ground conscious. Joking tone of voice aside, he wasn't actually kidding. There really were young ones inside the wagon.

Not sharing his humor, the two ponies eyed each other affirmatively before simultaneously charging at him.

Big mistake

For one thing, the wagon aisle wasn't actually big enough to fit two regular ponies, much less two grown ones. This was proven to be true when one of them accidentally tripped over their hoof and brought the other pony tumbling along with him. The last thing the two ever saw were the flat side of Naruto's orange hind hooves before everything went black.

Naruto nodded in satisfaction as he watched the two last bandits crumpled to the ground. As hard pressed as he was by his inability to use Chakra, at least he can take comfort in knowing that his strong stamina had stayed along.

 _Kurama, is there any more hostile around?_

 _ **Aside than the two presences at the train ahead which I assumed is a worker being kept by a guard as well as the bandit leader over there, I'd say you're good for now.**_

 _Really? Huh, I was expecting more resistance._

Said fox could only grunt in response. _**Of course they're not. It's not like they'd expect a baka like you to come in and foil their plan not too soon after they carried it out.**_

Nothing to comment on that one, the blonde broke the mental conversation to face the remaining bandit leader.

"You!" He said, pointing an accusing hoof at him. "You're that pony back from Canterlot a while ago! How did you get in this train!?"

Naruto shrugged. "The same way as you did. I boarded the train."

The blonde grinned when said burly stallion began looking around, no doubt looking for his companions.

"Looking for your friends? Don't bother. They won't be coming to rescue you any time soon."

"W-What? What did you do to them!?"

"Don't worry, it's nothing serious but you'll be joining them shortly if you don't surrender now." The blonde added half-jokingly before going serious. "I don't know what you're planning on doing to that mare over thereor all of the ponies inside this train for that matter but it's over now."

The bandit scowled hard but said expression contorted into a malicious grin when his gaze caught sight of something at the corner of his eye. "Not if I can help it."

Tilting his head ever so slightly, the orange stallion wondered what he could possibly do when he suddenly turned around and galloped for the opposite direction. Thinking he was trying to escape, Naruto went off to pursuit came to a screeching halt when he realize a little too late what he was planning on doing.

"Mommy!"

"Lightning!"

Holding back a deep snarl, he could do nothing but watch as the bandit leader now held a little filly captive.

"Stay back!" He barked, crossing a crowbar across the unfortunate filly's neck. "Come any closer and I'll hurt her! I'm serious!"

Said foal meanwhile burst out crying at that but quickly contorted into small choked whimpers when tightened his grip on her.

"It doesn't have to be like this." Naruto spoke in a neutral tone of voice. As calm as he sounded, the blonde was actually using every single ounce of his sheer willpower to keep himself from doing anything reckless. If he still had his hands, he'd probably clenched them so hard they'd bleed by now. "If you surrender now, we can make this as less troubling as possible. So let the foal go now."

Unfortunately, his plea fell on deaf on the stallion's thick ears. He growled. "Go fuck yourself." Although he had never been cornered in situation like this before, the bandit leader knew that obliging to his order would only do more bad than good.

Little did he realize, doing the exact opposite of what Naruto asked for would only make things worse for him.

Silent, Naruto pondered over his decision carefully. Obviously, he can't physically approach him directly as that would put the foal in danger. The blonde may be fast but he doubted he can cover the distance between them quick enough to rescue her. He can try throwing a kunai and nail him right in the forehead but he didn't actually trust his throwing capability with the hooves he had at the moment. Kami, if he wasn't careful, he might even injure somepony else by accident! And besides, judging from the sickened expressions on everypony inside the wagon, it doesn't seem like they're used to his act of 'violence' and he doubt adding blood and sharp objects into the mix would make it any better. So the blonde was left with one last option…

 _Kurama, can I tap into your Chakra?_

 _ **Yes but in your current condition not so much. Why do you ask?**_ He inquired before getting his tenant's mental plan. _**Oh, I see what you're trying to do.**_

Mentally nodding to himself, Naruto averted his gaze to the filly held captive. "Your name is Lightning, right?" He asked, his voice now changing into a much friendly tone. The tear-eyed filly was surprised at first but gave him a slow nod. "Hey Lightning-chan, can you do me a huge favor and close your eyes? Don't worry it won't take long."

The bandit squint his eyes in suspicion. "What are you trying to do?"

"Don't listen to him so can you do it?" The filly gave him another nod. "Good, when I give the sign, just close your eyes and don't open them until I say so."

"Hey, I said what are you trying to do!?"

"Ready?" The hidden blonde waited until the filly gave him her confirmation before continuing. "Close your eyes now."

"Hey, I said—"

Whatever words he was about to say next, it died in his throat when the bandit stared at his eyes and was suddenly flooded with a sudden case of overwhelming nausea. His visions started to become blurry, his heartbeat began to increased several folds and there was a faint ringing in his ears that clogged his hearing senses. His mouth went dry for no reason despite him drinking water just recently and despite being in a well-aired environment, he soon found his coarse fur drenched in his own perspiration.

If that wasn't bad enough, he found himself unable to breathe properly and his legs buckling wildly as if an invisible force was applied onto his back. He tried to take several deep breaths to compensate for the lack of oxygen but the action appeared to only make things worse instead and the bandit found himself choking like a madpony.

The last thing the bandit pony saw was the looming silhouette of a viciously grinning, scarlet-red eyed fox before his vision went completely red and he fainted from all the mental pressure.

 **...**

Naruto inwardly sighed as he cut off Kurama's Chakra. He nearly thought he blew it off right there when the thug gave no physical response at first. Thankfully, he was wrong. Then again, it was practically impossible for anypony to withstand the true strength of killer intent provided the victim wasn't mentally prepared for it. So unless there was a pony who received the same fate as he was then he doubt anypony would be able to resist him.

"Lightning!"

"Mommy!"

Putting that to the back of his mind for now, Naruto smiled as he saw the little filly was reunited back with her mother. "Is she alright?" He asked out of concern. Of course, he already knew what the answer was but it never hurts to ask.

"Yes, she is. Thank you so much for rescuing my daughter!" The mother said with absolute joy evident on her face. "Thank you!"

The blonde simply nodded in return before facing the rest of the crowd. Thanks to his little (heroic) demonstration, majority of the ponies were now looking at him with hope though some were still skeptical. This also includes the pink-maned adult mare from before.

Sensing her fixed stare on him, Naruto spoke. "You alright, miss?" He inquired softly. "He didn't do anything bad to you now, did he?"

"I'm fine." She responded before casting him her piercing glare. "You're not from the Canterlot Royal Guards, are you?"

Naruto grinned sheepishly. "No, I'm not sadly but I'm here to help anyway." She quirked an eyebrow at that, obviously not satisfied by his answer. He quickly changed the subject. "I'll be checking out the rest of the train for any hostilities. Everypony stay put until I came back."

Not expecting any response or whatsoever, the blonde trotted to the door that no doubt led to the locomotive train ahead.

"Wait!"

A hoof resting on the handle, he glanced back at trench coat-clad mare. "Yes?"

"You said that you're not from the Royal Guards." She repeated. "So who are you then?"

A brief pause lingered by before he flashed her his signature foxy grin. "Naruto Uzumaki."

…

"Well, that went well." He spoke to no pony in particular as soon as he closed the door behind him.

 _ **Yes, far too well.**_ Kurama added warily.

"What are you getting at here, Kurama?"

 _ **Gaki, if there's one thing I learnt from being stuck inside you, it's that Kami loves to screw with your life when you least expect it to be.**_

"Oh come on, Kurama, my luck's not that bad." He retorted. "And besides, it's not like our Kami exist in this realm."

Not too soon after he said so, the blonde felt a presence looming from him. Faster than anypony could comprehend, Naruto spun around to confront the unannounced visitor, a kunai ready at hoof. Only for said metal object to clatter on the floor when he saw who it was.

No

No, no, no, no, no

No, it can't…it can't be her…

She's not supposed to be here!

 _ **Told you so.**_

If he can, the blonde would've made a snappy remark to the fox for that but he was too shocked to even pay him any attention. Instead, he focused his attention to the pony before his eyes.

"Princess Celestia."

 **Don't forget to review. More reviews means more updates, more updates means more reviews and the cycle goes on! :D**

[Type text]


	5. Chapter 5

**Hello guys, its DragonEmperror2810 again.**

 **After reading your positive reviews on the previous chapter which served to boost my already-high egoistical demeanor and brought me closer to my impending salvation, I've decided to finish up chapter five ASAP. Spoiler alert, chapter five is actually meant to be a part of chapter four but I separated it for cliffhanger purposes and how it's already past the intended deadline but I'm sure you don't need to know that*insert evil cackle of doom here***

 **Oh, before I forget, I'd also like to take the opportunity to say something important.**

 **In case you haven't noticed, I usually do a Reviewer's Review section once I've passed the intended number of chapters and reviews in my other long-chaptered stories. And I intend to do the same for the Sentinel of Harmony now that it has reached chapter five.**

 **While this section does not serve any recreational purpose to the story or whatsoever, it was made so that we can do a two-way conversation between author (me) and readers (you guys) instead of the common Hey-guys-I-posted-a-new-chapter-so-do-give-me-your-opinions-on-it. That is so overrated. Plus, it allows me to get to know you guys more and vice versa which I always fond of doing. Not in the creepy kind of way, of course.**

 **Of course, I'm not that generous so there might be some reviews that I** **might** **not acknowledge at all. Particularly to those that served no relevance to the story or whatsoever. I'm not joking. One time, a reader inserted poetry inside his review but said poetry – regardless how beautiful it was – does not relate to the story or anything for that matter.**

 **Anyway, let's move on to the Reviewer's Reviews (for chapter 4)!**

 **To hussbek:**

Thank you for your patience all this time and I hope you look forward to more of it.

 **To :**

Thank you for waiting! :D

 **To Day358-2:**

Thank you!

 **To Onimad:**

I believe I already explained on why he became a pony in the second chapter, did I not? . Plus it'd be weird if he was introduced to Equestria as a human, a creature at which not even Celestia was familiar of. Moreover, with the things I've planned for him, I don't wanna be accused for supporting bestiality or anything related.

 **To AnFan-n-More:**

*Insert Fluttershy shocked expression meme here*

I'm not even gonna lie but you just pointed out some the things that were meant to play an essential role later in the story. Did you hack my laptop of the story's plan or were you that keen-eyed to begin with? Heck, even my co-author got scared when I shared your review with him. Well done. Seriously well done.

On the bright side, at least now I know I need to step up my game more if I want to surprise readers that are as sharp as you. You have been warned, AnFan-n-More.

 **To Guest:**

Oh, I doubt he can run from Celestia of all ponies. Just sayin ;)

 **To Karlos1234ify:**

Thanks :D

 **To CanaryInTheCoalMine:**

Only one way to find out

 **To Banjo the Fox:**

Glad you enjoy the cliffhanger :)

 **To Silber D. Wolf:**

Thank you :D

 **To ABitterPill:**

Well, I did put Naruto and Princess Celestia characters under the summary but you never know ;)

 **With that said, let's move on to the main story!**

 **The Beans Finally Spilled**

Appleloosa is a small town located in the western most part of Equestria amidst the sandy desert. At first glance, the settlement had no significant features aside than a saloon, a stage meant for musical performances, a clock tower, huge apple orchard and a few other buildings but was nonetheless inhabited with more pastel-colored ponies.

Hiding in the shadows of one of the town's buildings, the hyperactive blonde silently watched as the hostages slowly filed out of the train unscathed. He had managed to leave the train just before it came to a halt at the town's train station where a few important-looking ponies were waiting by. It seemed the town ponies here had received a word of the partially-successful hijack incident and had deployed a welcoming committee for them. Not that they need any since Naruto had taken care of it earlier hand.

He grinned when the bandits stepped out of the wagon next, each wrapped and gagged in ropes courtesy of the ever so kind karma. Served them right for trying to the impossible while he was nearby. It was a good thing he couldn't use Chakra, otherwise, their punishment would've been much severe than what he originally did.

Speaking of punishment, Naruto's grin contorted into a grimace when he felt a familiar presence trotting beside him.

"I've summoned a group of Royal Guards from Canterlot a little while ago," Princess Celestia declared as she followed his line of gaze. "They'll arrive here in this town shortly to escort all the passengers back safe and sound."

Naruto nodded half-heartedly at that. As curious as he was, he didn't want to question how she managed to make 'contact' with ponies that were no doubt several dozens of miles away from their current location in such a short time. Instead, he sighed. "I'm guessing you want the truth?"

Celestia quirked an eyebrow at that. "As a matter of fact, yes, I do want the truth." The orange stallion flinched at the tone of voice the Alicorn used. It wasn't exactly stern but it wasn't a pleasant one either. "But now is not the suitable time and place for that. Let us go back to Canterlot first."

"Go back to Canterlot? How? The train aren't exactly operatio—" Naruto stopped midsentence when Celestia's horn glowed yellow. "…Oh right, magic. Duh."

Using her magic, the Alicorn princess teleported them back to Canterlot in barely less than a second. The spell was almost similar to the Body Flicker technique the shinobis always like him always used except it was too flashy for comfort.

To avoid any unwanted attention, Celestia took the precaution of teleporting the two of them in a shaded alleyway somewhere deep in Canterlot. The blonde was eternally grateful for that. The last thing he need was a group of pastel-colored ponies to come in and swarm them again, further worsening the thick tension between them.

As Naruto took a peek outside the alleyway, he realized that the alleyway the Alicorn teleported them into was in fact right across to the very shop where he previously were in. Heck, if he looked closer, the blonde can actually see Shining seemingly engaged in an intense argument against the shopkeeper through the glass window. While he should've been concerned with what they were fighting for, he doubt it was anything of utmost importance if Cadence's amused and Twilight' deadpanned expression behind him were of any indication.

Still hidden in the shadows, Celestia asked, "Judging from the look of things, I'm assuming Shining and the rest aren't aware of your unorthodox trip?"

He sighed once again. "No, they don't," To be honest, he wasn't aware of the trip either considering how he only acted on a whim but he doubt Celestia will acknowledge such pathetic excuse.

"Then you should return to them for now," She stated with a brief nod. "As much as I want to have my answers as soon as possible, I still have plenty of royal duties to attend to this afternoon. We'll discuss about this later at midnight once I'm available. I believe Shining had told you where my resting chamber is, correct?"

Naruto nodded. It wasn't that hard to find considering how it was located in the northern part of the castle and has a door that were comparable to the throne room entrance itself.

"It is settled then. I'll see you back at the castle," Not giving him any time to argue, Celestia flared her magic once more and disappeared in a burst of golden light, leaving the orange stallion all alone in the alley before he could come with an argue.

Alone, Naruto sighed as he trotted towards the store. _Guess there really is no avoiding it this time, huh?_

 _ **I've said it before, I'm gonna say it again, Kami hates you regardless whatever dimensions you're in.**_

Once again, he chose to ignore the bijuu's remark in favor of the building in front of him. Putting on a happy façade, the blonde opened the door and marched back into the store.

"Hey everypony, what did I miss?"

…

Courtesy of the magical powers bestowed upon the white Alicorn ruler, nightfall has once again blanket over the magical land of Equestria. Not only did this allow its pony inhabitants to take a break from their daily hectic, the curfew also served to provide them with the opportunity to reflect on their everyday life.

"Well, here we are,"

Naruto let out a long sigh as he gazed at the door in front of him. Today has been proven to be quite a tired day for him and he was confident that it would escalate further once he told Princess Celestia the truth later on.

 _ **You sound like you're about to attend your own funeral or something.**_

 _That's because I am._

 _ **Hm, point well made.**_

"Here goes nothing." Raising a hoof, he knocked on the door several times. For the first few seconds, there was no response from the other side and just when he thought she was unavailable, he heard Celestia's voice from inside.

"Who is it?"

Naruto cleared his throat at that. "It's me, Naruto."

Another moment of silence lingered by before the door opened on its own, in which he assumed was accomplished by her magic. "Come on in."

Glancing around, he arrived at a bedroom that was practically several times fancier than his own. With a cozy operational fireplace that casted the whole room in a comfortable lighting, a huge shelf that occupied numerous hardback books and tomes, a circular cushion in the centre of the room that was lusher than the one he slept on, a large wardrobe that might as well been a huge door in disguise and an empty brass birdcage hanging by a thin pole at the corner.

 _ **An animal keeping an animal as a pet.**_ Kurama snickered. _**How amusing.**_

Unaffected by his attempt at a joke, Naruto was more occupied with the Alicorn that was sitting at the center of the room, calmly sipping on her cup of tea with her eyes closed.

"Good evening, Naruto, I hope you're ready to explain yourself." She remarked as she put the cup back onto its saucer. "And I sincerely hope you don't leave out any minute details this time."

"Princess Celestia, I can explain—" The blonde shut his lips when Celestia raised a hoof in a halting motion.

"Not yet, let us wait for the others to arrive first."

 _Others? What others?_ He thought with a small frown. _I don't like where this is going._

And he had every right to feel that way as not too after she said so, he heard more knockings coming from the door accompanied by the familiar squeak of the wooden door opening.

"You called us, Princess Celestia?" Cadence inquired as she opened the door slightly and peeked through. "Naruto?"

"Cadence?" He responded back. "What are you doing here?"

"I could ask the same thing for you." The Alicorn of Love replied as she stepped into the room. "Princess Celestia called us, saying that she had something important to talk about."

He nodded but then blinked. "Wait, what do you mean by 'us'?"

"Naruto's in there?"

If he was confused before, he was more confused now when he found out that Cadence wasn't alone. Shining Armor and Twilight stepped into the room as well. Both looking as equally as confused as he was. He glanced at Celestia.

"I believe they have the right to hear what you have to say as well." Celestia acknowledged his unspoken question.

Naruto pondered on that before nodding in defeat. "I guess they do." On the bright side, at least he didn't have to repeat himself all over again.

"What do you mean, Princess Celestia, hear what exactly?" Cadence asked in confusion.

"Yeah, what's going on here?" Shining added his two-cent.

Facing all the four ponies, the blonde took a moment to clear the forbidding lump in his throat before he spoke, "The truth is, I didn't actually tell you guys the whole story."

"You didn't?" The three said in unison.

"First off, my name is still Naruto Uzumaki," He remarked, earning him inquisitive eyebrows from the three ponies. "Secondly, I'm actually not a pony to begin with."

"What?" If they were expecting an answer, it certainly wasn't that. "What do you mean you're not a pony?"

"Before this, I was actually a human…whom I assume you ponies aren't familiar with," Judging from the puzzled expressions on the four ponies muzzles; he'll take that as a yes. "Anyway, I came from an entirely different world inhabited by these humans with the aid of a space-travelling Ninjutsu I made – that's an equivalent to the magic spells in this world." He added the last part when the purple foal raised a hoof.

"As to how I managed to create and utilize such a thing, I'm actually a shinobi which are essentially humans that are gifted with a means of unique energy called Chakra that allows us to do exceptional abilities such as walking on water surface and climbing on walls." He finished. "Any questions?"

As soon as he finished his explanations, the blonde unconsciously found himself bracing for the incoming verbal lash in which he wouldn't blame them if they really did. Best case scenario: He might be kicked out of the castle with his head intact. Worse case scenario: He might be sent to rot inside the prison for his entire life. He greatly hoped it wasn't the latter.

He had no idea how wrong he was.

"So let me get this straight," Shining began with an unreadable expression on his muzzle. "You're a visitor from a different dimension. You're not a pony but instead a…human that are capable of using these Chakra power."

"Yep, that sums up pretty much everything."

"That is the most…" Shining spoke. "…awesome thing I've ever heard in my life!"

"Huh?" The blonde blurted out though it fell deaf on anypony's ears, each too occupied with their different reactions to notice.

"I knew it!" Twilight exclaimed as she hopped around the orange stallion like the excited little filly she was. "I knew it! I knew it! I knew it! I knew he wasn't a normal pony!"

"Wha—?"

"You never cease to amaze me, Naruto." Cadence remarked. "First it was you rescuing Twilight and now this? If I weren't in love with Shining Armor so much, I'd probably fell in love for you by now."

"Wait, hold on just a moment here," Naruto asked in disbelief. "You ponies aren't mad with me?"

They looked at him like he had just grown a second head. "Mad at you? Why would we? It's not like you did anything bad." Princess Mi Amore Cadenza interjected. "If anything, we're just angry that you didn't tell us about this from the very beginning."

Grinning, Shining hooked a hoof behind the blonde's neck. "Yeah dude, I know you're hiding something but I honestly didn't expect you to hide that kind of thing!" He happily agreed with his lover.

Naruto averted his gaze to Princess Celestia for that. "Does that I mean that I won't be kicked out the castle?" He asked a little too expectantly.

"No, of course not. Why would I do such a thing?"

The orange stallion opened his lips and was just about to answer that question when a random thought popped into his mind. "Wait a second, how come you're not surprised of me coming from another world?"

Princess Celestia simply smiled at the question. "Tell me, Naruto, have you heard of the types of ponies in this world?" She asked and he responded with a shake of his head. "In this world, the ponies are divided into three major race, they are Unicorn, Pegasus and Earth Pony."

"First off, the Unicorns are ponies gifted with a horn that allows them to utilize magic for various purposes such as teleportation and telekinesis." To emphasize her point, Celestia's horn gave off an ethereal glow and she prompted the teapot on the table to pour some tea into two of the teacups.

"Secondly, the Pegasi are ponies that can be easily identified by their wings." She spread her majestic white wings to prove her point. "Though they can't wield magic as much as the Unicorns, they possessed passive magic that allows them to do feats such as controlling the weathers and walking on clouds." Naruto opened his lips to say something about that but decided against it.

"Last but not least is the Earth Pony. Contrary to the first two, this particular pony race cannot wield magic as directly as the first two races but they have a strong connection to nature that makes them as equally as important, not only that but they're also granted with physical strength that surpassed the Unicorns and Pegasi combined."

"Do you know what race you're a part of?"

The blonde instinctively looked at his newly-profound body. He had no spiraling horns on his forehead nor a pair of wings (which oddly enough, he had no qualms with) so it can mean one thing only.

"I'm…an Earth Pony?" Celestia nodded. "Ok but that doesn't answer the question."

"Remember what you said to me the first time we met?"

Puzzled by the sudden question, Naruto fell into a deep silence as he tried to retrace back what he said on that particular day. Once he did however, he immediately facehoofed himself. "I told you that I got here by a teleportation spell I used."

"Exactly," Celestia confirmed, an amused smile slowly creeping up to her face. "It was from that very moment I knew you were hiding something. Though that does beg the question: What will you do if I did ask you to leave the castle?"

"I…I've no idea actually," He spoke earnestly. "I'd probably just wander around Equestria actually and learn things as I go along. Unless, of course, you kicked me out of Equestria. Then I'd probably be screwed."

"I see…" Celestia commented half-heartedly, smoothly ignoring the last remark. "While I do not question your survival capability considering the things you have done, I doubt that would still be a safe action to do especially in your circumstances."

"Well, it's not like I have anything else to do."

"There is another way though," The Alicorn pointed out, effectively garnering his attention at once. "You can continue living here in the castle instead. It may not look like it but the castle actually has plenty of job vacancies in most of the departments. I am sure we can find a job that suits you while you stay here."

"That's a good idea and all but I'm not sure if I'd find a job that suits me." Naruto deadpanned. "I'm not good with hospitality in case you're wondering."

"Oh, I beg to differ," She retorted vaguely. "In case you haven't noticed it yet, there is one particular role that suits you just fine. One that employs your combat skills to a good use."

Shining suddenly gasped, prompting everypony to avert their gaze to him in utter puzzlement. "Princess Celestia, you don't mean that, do you?" He asked in surprise, finally getting what the princess was trying to hint at.

"Why not? I don't see any problems with him being a part of it."

"Uh, be a part of what exactly?"

"Yeah Shining, don't leave us in the dark like that." Cadence added with a frown. "What are you two talking about?"

Said Alicorn and her Lieutenant exchanged furtive glances with each other before returning their attention back to the blonde, this time with knowing smile and grin plastered on their respective faces.

"Naruto Uzumaki, how would you like to consider joining the Canterlot Royal Guard?"

 **And that concludes the fifth chapter! Don't forget to review the story once you're done reading. Remember, more reviews means more updates, more updates means more reviews and the cycle goes on.**

 **DragonEmperror2810 now heading to bed!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Good morning everyone, caramel here, dragonemperror's beta reader and little sister. Due to some small problems, my brother is too busy readying for college to handle his literature work so he left it on me to conclude and publish this chapter. Sorry if I don't talk too much here, I'm not really that good for this kind of things but I don't want to left it hanging either.**

 **Strange Behaviors**

Somewhere in a disclosed forest clearing, two stallions were standing muzzle to muzzle at each other in an uncomfortably deafening silence.

On one side was the well-known Lieutenant of the Canterlot Royal Guard, Shining Armor, standing firm and proud in his complete set of gleaming silver Greek armor consisting of a plumed Trojan helmet, a chest plate whose Canterlot Royal Guard emblem glimmered under the slightest sunlight and a saddle armor with a sheathed sword strapped to the side.

On the other end was an absolutely anonymous stallion with his orange fur coat being the only visible feature. While his golden armor signified that he was a part of the Royal Guard as well, he was missing a few essential components, particularly the four golden shoes and the chest plate. A single-edged knife was strapped to his left foreleg by the means of a leather holster.

All around them, green leaves slowly fell to the ground, signifying the summer season but the two heed no attention to this and maintained their hardened gaze to each other.

Then, under an unannounced cue, Shining Armor speedily unsheathed his sword with the aid of his unicorn telekinesis powers and charged at him. He managed to close the distance between them in two seconds flat, an impressive record for a non-Earth pony. Once the orange stallion was within striking range, Shining began swinging his blade in a series of fast arcs, strikes that should've shredded anypony into ribbons within seconds.

Surprisingly, the other pony easily evaded all the blows on the very last minute. He'd sidestepped when he tried to thrust him in the chest, duck when he did a horizontal swing and back step when he brought his blade down in a downward strike. If that wasn't good enough, he was also nimble to the point where he'd pull out a series of acrobatic maneuvers whenever Shining tried to throw a feint at him. Even more surprising was that he managed to do it in a calm state. As if thinking that the stallion meant no harm to him.

Such thought does not go well with the Lieutenant one bit.

Gritting his teeth in mild frustration, the Lieutenant quickened the pace of his attacks in an attempt to land at least a single hit on the orange stallion but to no avail.

He hated to admit it but he was fast. Way faster than him. To make things worse, he was already beginning to feel drained out from trying to rush him earlier hand; a mistake he wished to avoid as much as possible upon fighting him.

His doubt was proven to be spot on when he started becoming sluggish and reckless with his attacks, a mistake that the other guard saw through if his twinkling cerulean blue eyes were of any indication.

Just when the blade was merely inches away from meeting his chest, the red-plumed guard finally did the inevitable and drew his knife out and parried it to the side with little force, something that obviously surprised Shining.

Despite the difference in weapon length not to mention how limited his movements were with the knife being held in his jaw against Shining's complete mobility with his sword, the anonymous guard managed to keep on par with Shining's swordsmanship by demonstrating his deadly efficiency and tactics with such puny weapon.

In some occasion, he would feint an attack that was aimed to some of his exposed body parts, prompting Shining to bring his sword there to block the attack, only for him to receive a hoof somewhere else. Not enough to knock him out but enough to make him stagger over and over again.

Outmatched and out of breath, the grey stallion tried to back step to regain his composure but the other guard was having none of that and kept advancing, continuously delivering strikes and feints that slowly but surely chipped his already-crumbling guard away and giving him not a single chance to recover.

Then just when he was about to deliver a horizontal swipe that was aimed at his vulnerable neck, Shining Armor suddenly dissipated in a purple flash. Apparently, as tired as he was, the Lieutenant was still careful to keep a lookout for any lethal blows.

Whether if the guard was surprised by this sudden turn of event or not, he didn't show it and spun around, with his knife still clenched in his jaw, just in time for the Lieutenant to appear mid air behind him once more with his magically-imbued sword raised high in a lethal gravity strike.

CLANG!

The weapon clash was so strong that it triggered a high-pitch ringing sound wave that spread outwards from their position. The two ponies evidently flinched at the contact but neither dared to break contact less they want to become vulnerable to the next attack.

Gritting his teeth in frustration at his failed surprise attack, Shining tried to make amends of his mistake by pushing his blade forward to overpower him but to no avail. While he may be superior to him in terms of magic capability, the Earth pony still retains his massive physical strength that keeps them in level to one another. It didn't help that he was already starting to feel the mental strain from using his Unicorn telekinesis. Suffice to say, the two ponies were in a stalemate.

In the midst of their weapons lock, the orange stallion did the unexpected once more when he suddenly headbutted him in the helmet. While this was proven to do nothing in terms of damage, the course of action served to break his concentration albeit for a few milliseconds, allowing him to easily push forward with relative ease.

Dazed, Shining took a few steps back and tried to resume attacking, only to realize that he no longer have his sword when said weapon spiraled across the sky and stabbed itself a safe distance away. Seeing this, the orange stallion quickly seized the opportunity and charged at him at an alarming speed, intent on finishing the battle once and for all.

Realizing his disadvantage, the lieutenant closed his eyes shut and flared his magic.

In a myriad of pink illumination, the Lieutenant unleashed a deadly barrage of magical blasts in all directions. Some embedded themselves on the unfortunate tree barks around them, leaving charred bullet holes in it wake while the rest of the magical projectiles created potholes on the ground.

Whereas none of the magical blasts actually hit its intended target as Shining Armor ruefully hoped for, it does serve as a good deterrent for him, prompting the stallion to gracefully somersault to safety and leaving him with enough room to regain his breathing.

Or does he?

Midway through his third somersault, the guard surprised him for the umpteenth time of that day when he suddenly flung his one and only knife at him.

Eyes went wide from bewilderment and fatigue, the panting Lieutenant had little to no stamina to move around and instead conjured a purple force field bubble around. He evidently flinched when the knife struck dead centre and the dome-shaped barrier shuddered and fizzled under the force but grinned afterwards when it showed no sign of popping out of existence anytime soon.

Said confidence dissipated however when he saw the barely-noticeable fracture on his bubble of protection, one that was created from the blade a while ago. It shortly contorted into a look of pure horror when the stallion suddenly materialized in front of him in a puff of white smoke, his raised forehoof seemed to be imbued in a faint blue fire-like magic aura. As if he hadn't retreated a few hundred feet away in the first place.

With a wicked grin under his helmet, the stallion's forehoof struck the weak point, shattered his trusty barrier into millions of pieces and struck Shining Armor right in the face, sending the unfortunate lieutenant ragdolling across the field before coming to a stop.

Shaking the dizzy spell off and ignoring the excruciating pain that was blazing on his cheek, Shining tried to stagger back to his hoof but immediately went rigid when a shadow loomed over his downed figure and he felt something cold pressed against his throat. Slowly and carefully, he sighed and averted his muzzle to face the looming figure of the orange stallion above him.

For a few good seconds, the two were enveloped in a long silence, the only means of sound were the chirping of the birds and the wind as it blew across the grass clearing.

Finally, it was Shining who broke the peace.

"Three years." He suddenly declared out loud. "I've been with the Royal Guards for three years…and I had my flank beaten by a pony who only joined a few months ago. If this is what you call a practice session in your ninja world then I definitely don't want to see you in actual combat." He scowled. "Naruto."

Grinning victoriously at the statement, said guard recalled his knife back and proceeded on taking his helmet off, revealing the orange stallion's spiky blonde mane, sparkling cerulean blue eyes and three pair of whisker marks; all that was hidden by the helmet before this. A few months back, the locks of his mane was only a few a few inches long. Now, his mane was twice as long, still not as long as Shining Armor's fabulous mane but still long nonetheless.

Sheathing his knife into place, he lent the Lieutenant a helping fore hoof. Shining graciously accepted his help and hoisted him back to his hoof. He winced and stumbled for a bit but he can manage, albeit barely.

"Oh come on, Shining. It wasn't that bad." Naruto stated. "Besides, I didn't even get to use my shadow clones yet."

"Exactly my point." The last time the two trained, Naruto had shown him a fraction of the devastation his shadow clones jutsu was capable of doing. Needless to say, he didn't want to experience it ever again unless of course he wanted to experience the undesirable sensation of having his neck dislocated.

Shivering at the foreboding thought alone, Shining Armor flared his magic and conjured himself a healing spell, earning him a quirked eyebrow from Naruto. "What?"

"What? Nothing for me? Such a considerate commanding officer you are." Naruto remarked in utter sarcasm.

He snorted. "Oh please, it's not like you have any bruise that needs patching up." He responded. "By the way, Princess Celestia said she wants to see you today."

"Really? What for?"

Shining simply shrugged. "No idea but she wants to see you as soon as possible." Cracking his neck, Shining let out a long and grateful sigh as the pain on his cheek subsided to a tolerable margin. Praise Equestria for granting him with unicorn powers.

Putting a hoof under his chin, Naruto quietly pondered about it before shrugging. "I guess I'll go now then. Not like I have anything else to do after this."

Approaching to one corner of the clearing where the two kept their respective belongings, Naruto began suiting himself up with the last remaining armors he previously left off. "Man, I hate these things." He pointed out as he put on the golden hoofshoes on. "Are you sure I can't go around without wearing these things?"

"Dude, I've already told you. You have to wear them whenever you're on duty. It's standard royal guard rules and regulations."

Naruto casted him a pointed look. "Oh really? What about you then? Most of the time I don't even see you with your helmet on."

"That's because my ranking is Lieutenant." He stated as a matter of factly, puffing his chest as if doing so would make him cooler. It doesn't. "Upon reaching promotion to Sergeant ranking or above, a Royal Guard has the special privilege of not wearing full armor or even none at all if they desire so. You're even allowed to wear a custom armor of your own if you want."

Naruto whistled at that. "Sergeant, huh? Not sure if I'll be able to get there any time soon."

"You'll be fine. I mean, you managed to become Corporal after only a few months, Sergeant should be a haywalk for you."

"Not with General Iron Hoof, I won't." He retorted with a snort.

Ever since their first unplanned encounter a few months back, General Iron Hoof had been keeping a punctual eye on the blonde. Whilst he trusted his records to be flaw-proof since it was done by Princess Celestia nonetheless, Naruto was willing to bet all his bit savings that the black stallion was suspicious about his origins. He had spent enough time with peo—ponies like him to distinguish them.

It didn't help that the blonde kept on doing things that he shouldn't do such as talking back to your drill sergeant (which coincidentally was the same grumpy black stallion as well), not doing half of the things he ordered you to do and correcting the things that he deemed to be wrong.

All in all, he was General Iron Hoof's number one _favorite_ trainee.

The grey stallion could only laugh at him, as if the thought of him being lectured was an amusing sight. "Well, it's your fault for disrespecting him. Even new cadets learnt better than to get on his bad side and they're just cadets!"

The whiskered blonde shrugged. "What can I say? I'm prone to getting into troubles."

"I've got no complains on that one." Shining laughed before noticing how long they've been standing here. "You should go now, you don't wanna keep the princess wait too long."

"Yeah yeah, I know." He remarked as he adjusted the chest plate and making sure it was self-centered with his body. _Dear Kami, I miss my old jumpsuit very much._

Once he was sure everything was in place, the blonde proceeded on lowering himself into a crouching position and swiftly hop onto one of the low hanging branches without barely a single sound; just like the shinobi he truly was.

"Oh, and don't forget about tomorrow!" Shining called out once he was at a particular distance away. "Cadence said it's compulsory for everypony to be present!"

Snorting in derision, Naruto nonchalantly waved a hoof back in affirmation before hopping onto a few more other branches and disappearing completely out of sight. Since when was it not compulsory?

…

Meanwhile, back in the castle throne room, a certain white Alicorn was reading a paper parchment while simultaneously scribbling her feather quill on another one. Celestia momentarily stopped her work when her assistant, Raven, trotted into view with a stack of neatly rolled paper parchments her forehoof.

"Princess Celestia, here are the reports from the weather ponies you've requested a while ago."

"Thank you Raven, you may put all of them there." Nodding, the Earth Pony assistant obliged and put the fresh stacks of paper parchment along its fellow brethren, further increasing the stack to the point where it became way too messy for comfort. "Have the books I requested been sent to Ponyville yet?"

The assistant shook her head. "Not yet." She responded. "From what I heard, the postal company is caught with up plenty of delivery work this time of the year. It's safe to assume that they won't be able to ask for their help anytime soon."

"I see. This is going to be a bit problematic."

"Shall I talk to them again?" Raven inquired with a tilt of her reading glasses upon seeing the troubled expression on Celestia's face. "I could try convincing them again and tell them that it is an urgent business."

"That won't be necessary." She answered. "The postal ponies have done quite enough for us already in the past few months; let's not disturb them any more than we should. In fact, I'll have somepony else in the castle to send them instead."

Raven tilted her head to the side in puzzlement at that but didn't dwell on it too much. "Very well then." Wrapping the current paper parchment she had on hoof into a neat roll, Raven lowered herself front half in a respective bowing manner to the Alicorn before her. "If there's nothing else, your majesty, I'll be taking my leave."

Nothing left to say, the assistant left the throne room, leaving Princess Celestia alone with her pile of work.

Letting out a tired sigh, she brought out another paper parchment amongst the pile and unrolled it open. As used to it as she was, the white Alicorn would be lying to herself if she said she like paperwork. She was better off going out and tend to the problems directly rather than being stuck in the throne room like this. But alas that wasn't the case. Not now at least.

Knock!

"Hm?"

Lowering her paper, the white Alicorn glanced around the throne room for the source of the knocking. At first, she thought it was another guard coming to report something but dismissed such thought when the two huge doors on the other side of the hall showed no sign of opening or whatsoever. Shrugging it off as her imagination, she went back to doing her usual work.

Knock! Knock!

Lowering the letter once more, Celestia scanned the throne room for the cause of the sound but there wasn't a single pony in sight except for herself. Frowning, she slowly went back to reading her reports but not before sparing the hall one last remaining inspection just in case…

Knock! Knock! Knock!

Now more curious than ever, the white Alicorn gently put all her works aside and got off the throne. Something was making that sound over and over again and she intend on finding out what.

Obviously it wasn't the main doors. Otherwise, she would've heard a hint of metal clanking as well. It wasn't the wind either since the Wonderbolts themselves had forecasted that today will be a sunny day with a few gentle breezes here and there. This one sounded like somepony was knocking their hooves against glass…could it be coming from one of the windows perhaps?

For the first few windows, she saw nothing worth mentioning. However, just when she thought that whatever that was making that sound disappeared, imagine her surprise upon seeing a certain blonde stallion casually waving a hoof from the other side of the window with a goofy grin plastered on his face.

"Naruto?" Approaching said window, Celestia magically opened it for him and asked, "What are you doing out there? You know you could've used the front entrance."

Rather than giving an answer straight, Naruto prompted on casually getting into the throne room first, as if he hadn't stick himself onto a window that was several dozens of feet above ground which may had led to his literal downfall if he wasn't careful enough. "Yeah, I know but I figured it's a lot easier to use the windows."

Celestia could only exasperatedly sigh at that though there was a faint smile on her muzzle. As much as she wanted to know how the blonde's mind works, she knew better than to question his bizarre sense of logic. In fact, she learnt better than to do so if his stay here in the castle was of any indication.

"So," He began. "Shining said you wanted to see me?"

"Why yes I did." She acknowledged with a nod. "But this is not the proper place to talk so let us go to the garden instead. I've requested some of the servants to prepare a lunch for us there. I'm sure you're famished from your training."

The blonde couldn't resist from looking back at the throne where a huge pile of paper parchment scrolls can be seen bundled up in one big mountain, still waiting to be examined. It didn't help that one of the scrolls on top decided to drop onto the ground and unroll itself, revealing its ten foot long worth of ink-written content for the two to see. Frowning, he gave the mare a questioning glance. "Are you sure? I don't mind and all but you look quite busy."

Celestia simply smiled at him and put the scroll back in its rightful place. "It'll be fine. I've done this all the time actually."

If he was reassured by the statement, he didn't show it. "And you're not stressed? Not even in the slightest?"

"Not at all."

Naruto maintained his lingering gaze as if still not believing her at all but dropped the subject in the end. "If that's the case then lead the way." If there was one thing he'll never pass up when given, it's the opportunity to have free food! Especially if it's with Princess Celestia of all ponies!

As they stepped out of the throne room, the two ponies had to restrain their smiles when the two guards who stood outside gave Naruto bewildered looks, no doubt wondering how he got in there in the first place. Luckily for them, they didn't question it and the two managed to trot away without any further complications.

"So how was your practice earlier today?" Celestia asked as soon as they were out of the two guard's earshot. "I presume everything going well on your end?"

He shrugged. "It's going pretty well."

"Judging from the passive look on your face, I assume you've won again?"

He inwardly winced at that before sheepishly smiling at her. "Was it that obvious?"

"Not quite but you'd be surprised of the small things you'll notice if you're as half as old as I am." She said with a knowing smile.

"Well to be fair, I didn't use my Shadow Clones this time."

"Ah yes, Shining Armor have told me about that. Seems to me, you gave him quite a hard time on that one" Celestia commented as she had a brief flashback of a crying grey stallion being consoled by an amused Cadence on that particular day. At least now she knew what made into such a miserable state. "Which brings me to my next question, how are you doing with your Shadow Clones this time? Any decent progress?"

Based on what he had spoken, the Shadow Clone ability was one of the skills he had kept on talking whenever Ninjutsu was brought into the topic of discussion.

"Uh, I managed to create up to twenty clones." He reported. "That's good enough for now, I guess."

Sensing his sadness, Celestia rested a reassuring hoof on his shoulder and gave him her signature motherly smile. "Don't be so disheartened, Naruto. While I do not fully understand how you managed to create copies of yourself like that or how the shinobis of your world work overall, I'm sure you'll be able to regain full control of all your skills in no time. You just need to work hard and be patient with yourself." She consoled with smile. "And if you are still in trouble you can always ask any of us for help. I am sure we can work something out."

Naruto smiled. He wasn't particularly perturbed by the dilemma but was grateful for her word nonetheless. "You're right, thanks Princess Celestia." He said appreciatively.

…

Just as she promised, a rather decent-sized banquet has been prepared just for the two of them in the dining hall. Numerous delicacies was spread across the surface ranging from the apple pie and ciders from the well known Apple Family to the shortcakes made by no other than Gustave himself.

As he got closer to the table, the blonde practically froze in his steps when his sensitive nose caught the scent of something familiar wafting through the air, one that easily overwhelmed the rest of the meal available as if they were nothing. "Are those honey daisy sandwiches?"

The white Alicorn simply smiled at his question. "Why yes, they are. And they're made specifically for you actually." Celestia responded. "I figured you'd need something more refreshing instead of the usual recruit meal."

Naruto could only lick his lips at that. "I've got no complains on that one." While the meals provided by the military were meant to be highly nutritious for ponies. They weren't exactly…edible for him. Apples and vegetables were okay on his books. Hays and things like that, not so much. Kami, he lost the number of times he spent in the toilet after eating some of those things during lunch time. It almost reminded him of the bug meals during his Sage training with the toad summons in mount Myoboku.

Abandoning whatever restraints he had all this time, the blonde practically dived onto his seat, much to Kibitz's hidden disapproval in one of the corners of the dining hall. Though there were a few other delectables he took a liking to being served on the table, his predatory gaze remained fixed on the plate of daisy sandwiches as if it was the last batch of daisy sandwiches he'll ever have.

Unable to hold himself any longer, he turned and gave her a pleading look, pure impatience evident in his puppy eyed look.

Celestia could only roll her eyes from that. "Go on. Those daisy sandwiches aren't going to finish by themselves."

Naruto grinned. That was all he needed to hear.

Faster than any Wonderbolts she recognized, Naruto snatched all the sandwiches and gulped them one after another like a mean eating machine, not bothering to hide his blackhole-like appetite for Celestia and all the servant ponies nearby to see. Whilst majority sported an uncomfortable look at such a sight, a few was looking at Naruto with a newly-profound respect and awe.

Contrast to the hyperactive blonde's rampage, Celestia simply enjoyed her lunch at a comfortable pace. She was just about to sip on her tea when a random thought came across her mind. "Speaking of which, what is the condition of the Deciphering Stone, is it functioning properly?"

Swallowing his fifth sandwich down his gullet, the blonde proceeded on taking out a glowing jade stone that wasn't bigger than his hoof, coiled around his neck by the means of a thin yet durable leather cord. Although it didn't looked much at first glance, the stone retained a special power that allowed him to understand all the types of language writings in this world without the need to study. A thoughtful gift from Princess Celestia herself, if he must say so himself.

"So far there's no problem just yet. I managed to read some of the books Twilight gave me." He stated before frowning. "Though there are still some books I don't really get."

"You're probably referring to the different dialects available all over Equestria." Celestia elaborated. "It might be a bit difficult for you to register them all at once but I'm sure you'll get use to them over time. You just need to take it nice and slow."

"Right. There are also the ones that have numbers and signs in them." He pointed out. "I think it was a book about zebras or something."

"Algebra by all means is not a language, Naruto."

"Considering how I'm not the brightest in my class, I think I have every right to say that it is."

"Speaking about mathematics," She asked, effectively earning the blonde's attention at once. "Twilight has been awfully giddy when I taught her during today's class to the point where she had a hard time concentrating on her studies. While I do not mind this in the slightest, you wouldn't happen to know why she was acting as such, do you?"

Grabbing the napkin which he conveniently forgot to put on before eating, Naruto took his time wiping the honey smudge off his lips before answering, "It's probably because of tomorrow's meeting."

"Oh really, that sounds rather fun. So what will you four be doing then?"

"Well first we'll be going on a picnic at the castle grounds. Then we'll be going off to Cadence's favorite spa to get a…a hoof—hoofcare—"

"Hoofcure?" She corrected.

"Hoofcure." He repeated as if it was an alien word to him. Then again, knowing Naruto, it probably does. "After that we'll be heading to the city outside to go shopping."

The white Alicorn look mildly surprised by that. "Shopping? Shopping for what exactly?"

"No clue, I totally forgot." Scratching the side of his head, the blonde tried to remember to the point where it looked like he was having a headache. "Oh wait, now I remember! We're going to look for costumes for Nightmare Night next week."

Celestia's motherly smile faltered at that. "Nightmare Night?"

He nodded, oblivious to her brief change in demeanor. "Yeah, seeing as how the three will be celebrating Nightmare Night at Shining and Twilight's house, they decided to bring me along because they say its fun and all." Shrugging his shoulders, he indifferently continued. "Personally, I don't see what's so fun about it when all you're doing is just dressing up in weird costumes and visiting random ponies' doorstep just to get free candy. Right, Princess Celestia?"

Being the wise and considerate ruler she was, Naruto half-expected Princess Celestia to come up with a wise remark on how he should try it for himself before coming up with such accusations just like what she always do before this. Much to his surprise however, he heard none of such. For once, the Princess was eerily silent.

Opening his eyes, Naruto looked at her just in time to see her having a faraway look at…something.

Seeing that she won't be answering his previous question anytime soon, the blonde went off with another one.

"Would you like to join us, Princess Celestia?"

Blinking her magenta eyes several times, Celestia stared at him as if she actually saw him for the first time. "I beg your pardon?"

"Would you like to join us tomorrow?"

"I-I'm afraid I can't, Naruto…"

"That's Because…um,"

"Princess Celestia, if I may," Kiblitz interjected as he popped beside the princess out of nowhere, a ticking pocket watch floating above him. "It's nearly time for your meeting with the Apple family from Ponyville."

"Ah yes, thank you for reminding me, Kiblitz. I nearly forgot about that." She replied as turned to face the blonde. "I am terribly sorry Naruto but I'm afraid I'll have to cut our lunch short."

"Oh, it's alright. I understand. I'm actually about to go to my shift anyway." He said as he stood up from his seat. "Thanks for the food, Princess Celestia."

"My pleasure, Naruto."

…

Nightfall has once again fallen upon Canterlot in the next few hours time. Yet the blonde stallion found himself still concerning over the Alicorn princess as he does pushups all the while simultaneously keeping himself intact upside down on the ceiling via Chakra.

Naruto knew he shouldn't dwell on it too much but he couldn't help it. Her reaction earlier this afternoon was far too out of place to be easily ignored. Obviously, he had struck a sore subject on Princess Celestia's side but what exactly? All he did was asking about some old mythical legend that was probably as old as she was. Nothing wrong with that, right? Right?

 _ **Alright, I'll bite.**_ He heard the fox inside him finally spoke. _**What's on your mind now, Naruto?**_

Naruto simply sighed. _It's Princess Celestia._

Kurama quirked an eyebrow. _**What about her?**_

 _I can't explain it in details but she's acting kinda weird during today's lunch._

 _ **Isn't that what you always say about her or any other ponies you met for the first time for that matter?**_

 _I know that but what happened today seems to be more than just that._

Kurama grunted in consideration. _**So what do you expect? She's a princess to an entire kingdom.**_ _**She probably had a lot of things to worry about today. You have seen it yourself just how much work has been piled up back on her throne.**_

The blonde sighed at his partner's valid point. _You're right. I'm probably just over thinking things._

There was a brief silence before Kurama spoke. … _ **Of course you do. Now hurry up and get to sleep already. If I remember correctly, you have a meeting with that pink vixen friend of yours tomorrow morning.**_

Ignoring his cruddy remark about Cadence, Naruto spoke, _Yeah, yeah, I know._ Cutting off the Chakra flow to his hooves, the blonde calmly plopped himself back to the ground from the ceiling he had purposely stuck himself on upside a while ago and proceeded on crawling onto his comfy bed to call it for the night. _Goodnight, Kurama._

Said Bijuu only grumbled in return before going dead silent, no doubt going back to sleep inside his mindscape like he always did. Naruto smiled. Even after all those years, he still wasn't up to becoming mushy in their relationship. Luckily for him, he didn't mind this.

…

…

…

…

…

Unbeknowst to the blonde, Kurama didn't actually go to sleep like he thought he was going to be inside his mindscape. Instead, the fox was too busy chuckling to himself as he lazily rested his head on his crossed forearms. As if he had just heard the most funniest thing in the world.

" _ **Naruto, you never cease to amaze me."**_ He thought to himself as he glanced up to the ceiling, his lips shaped into a wide grin. _**"Even until now, you're still as dense as ever."**_

At some point however, the laughter died down and the bijuu was left with a relative silence for him to ponder about it properly.

" _ **Then again, that's probably a good thing."**_ Closing his eyes, he recalled back his tenant's past. _**"Otherwise, staying with you won't be half as interesting as it used to be."**_

Another moment of silence lingered by before he continued on.

" _ **Though I'll admit, I am curious on what'll he do about it once he does."**_ He lamented as he swished his nine tails left and right.

" _ **Will you completely embrace the ways of this new world…?"**_

Kurama snapped his eyes open, his amused demeanor now switched into a fore looming serious one.

"… _ **or will you keep on letting your past haunt you?"**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys, its DragonEmperror2810 or Dee for short. Very sorry for the late update. Things had gotten really chaotic lately ever since I took the mantle of being the group leader here in college.**

 **Being a part lone wolf, its difficult working together in a group but seeing as how majority of the assignments here are based on teamwork I had relatively no other choice.**

 **Once again, I apologize for being absolutely quiet here, I lost count the number of times where I have to skip writing session for the sake of finishing my assignments. It didn't help that my procrastinating habits is still working full force.**

 **Luckily, I have my lil sister to help out a bit (Keyword: a bit) so we're good...i think.**

 **Anyway, I'm not here to preach about my college life. Lets move on with the story now, shall we?**

 **The Mare of the Moon**

Night time has once again fell upon the vast land of Equestria. However, tonight there seemed to be something odd going on as proven to how eerily quiet the castle grounds were.

"Hey Kurama, you remember which way our room is?" He inquired as he walked through one of the empty corridors, his hooves clacking loudly against the marble floors. "Kurama?"

Silence

"This isn't funny, Kurama, I know you can hear me."

More silence

Huffing in annoyance, he spoke, "Fine, don't talk to me then. It's not like I need your help anyway." He snapped. "Just don't blame me if we end up being stuck here until Celestia raised the sun."

This time, he didn't expect the fox to respond either and went on ahead, intent on not falling for his games.

Still, it was a bit tad surprising for him to be easily lost like this and Naruto was quite sure with himself that he had explored all the places around the castle. Unless of course Celestia had purposely left out something when he first came here but he highly doubt that was the case.

Or does she?

Shaking his head, the orange stallion averted his attention back to the situation at hoof. Like what Kurama said, he can worry about Princess Celestia some other time. Right now, he had a room to get back to.

…

Naruto was utterly stumped

He wasn't sure how long sure he had been trotting around these corridors but he was pretty sure he had been stuck here longer than he should. Everywhere he looked, the corridors looked exactly the same from top to bottom and that annoyed him to no end.

"Is it this way?" He muttered to himself as he glanced to the right. He let out a long hum before shaking his head in disagreement. "No, I'm pretty sure I went there before."

He turned to the opposite direction.

"This way then?" He mumbled to himself again as he skeptically glanced at the corridor. "Nah, that can't be right. I just came from there."

"Gah, this is so frustrating!"

Finally reaching his utmost boiling point, Naruto let out a long frustrated groan before plopping his flank onto the carpeted floor in utter defeat. This was hopeless.

What's more surprising was that throughout his uncalled journey through the castle, never once did he ever come across any other ponies and that made the blonde highly uncomfortable. Usually, he'd come across a few servants or patrolling guards by now but that wasn't the case for tonight. For whatever reason, he had no absolute clue.

Crack!

"Huh?"

Looking down at his forehooves, he was perplexed to discover that he had stepped on something. He couldn't see what it was due to the lack of illumination so he had to pick it up for a closer inspection.

"A pot shard?" He inquired quizzically. "What's this doing here?"

Obviously, this was done just recently. Had it done during daylight, the cleaners would've noticed it and got rid of it in the blink of an eye; a testament to how serious they played . But last time he checked however, he was the only one in charge of this specific wing of the castle. A intruder perhaps? Plausible but most likely not. The ponies in this world may be well-versed in the arts of magic but they're not shinobis.

Glancing up, his perplexed demeanor turned into mild concern when he got a full view of the corridor ahead of him.

"Kami, what happened here?"

As it turned out, the pottery shard wasn't the only thing that was there. Several more of its brethren were scattered here and there. Not only that but the ceiling-high lavish red curtains were brutally torn apart and a few of the glass window panels were decorated with multiple webcracks. The place was a terrible mess.

The prospect of having an intruder roaming through the castle grounds now being more prominent than ever, Naruto gently the shard he was holding and marched onward, carefully evading the mess as he went along in case there were any hostiles nearby. He decided to use the mess as a way point seeing as how they seemed to lead to a particular direction no doubt the intruders were heading for.

As he got further and further, the damage escalated even more to things like cracked floor tiles, scratched off wallpapers and smoldered walls that was obviously triggered due to magic side effects. No doubt caused by unicorns but who?

Eventually, the blonde arrived at a set of large doors that was located on the far end of one of the corridors. Contrary to all the previous bland wooden doors he came across before this, the particular entrance was twice as large and was flourished with numerous murals of white moons directly at the centre along with dozens of glittering stars around it. Almost as big as Princess Celestia's if he must say so himself.

Naruto stared at the door with a confused look. Was this door been here the whole time? He had no clue. It seemed there's more to the castle than he thought it'd be.

Peeking through the gap, the blonde tried to get a sneak peek of what was inside the room, only to frown when he was greeted with absolute darkness.

"Hello? Is anypony in here?"

Hearing no verbal response, the blonde decided to take the silence as a yes and slowly trudged into the room.

As Naruto's cerulean blue eyes finally adjusted to the lack of lighting inside the room, he realized that the condition of the room's interior wasn't as bad as the hallway outside.

It was ten times worse than that.

Cracked tiled floors, torn blue curtains, broken window panels, ripped pillows, splintered walls. Even what was obviously used to be an exquisite resting chamber was now demolished to nothingness.

Just what in the name of Kami is going on here?

He swiftly broke out of his stupor when he heard shuffling in the room. Battle instincts automatically took over, he swiftly entered a fighting stance.

"Who's there!" He demanded, his cerulean blue eyes darting all over his surroundings. "Show yourself!"

The blonde waited for any response but to no avail, the silence was his only response.

Naruto frowned. How he wished he was a unicorn right now then he'd be able to shine a light in this dark ominous place.

Luckily for him, Celestia must've answered his prayers as more moonlight slowly bathed into the room, further illuminating the room to a degree.

It was only then did he finally realized that there was in fact a lone mare laying in the center of all the mess, sobbing to herself. Compared to all the damage around her, she looked relatively unharmed.

Thinking that she was a victim of some sort, he slowly went to her side.

"Hey, are you alright?"

Whether if the dark blue pony heard his inquiry or not, she didn't show it and continued sobbing to herself.

Tentatively, Naruto reached a hoof for the mare's shoulder, making sure to be gentle about it in case she was scared...which she obviously was. "Hey, it's alright. I'm a Royal Guard here. My name's Nar-"

"No more…"

He stopped, his hoof a few inches away from touching the mare. "Huh?"

"I will have none of this anymore…"

No longer sniffling, the mare suddenly stood up on all her hooves, prompting Naruto take a step back in surprise.

"No more..."

"No...more...!"

" **None of this!** "

All of the sudden, ominous black smoke-like tendrils started to creep out of the floor tiles and around the mare. They coiled around her legs before engulfing her whole petite form before he could even as much as move a single limb. At this point, his senses was screaming right at his face and Naruto found himself slowly backstepping to the door he came from, he only managed to get about a few hoofsteps away before the tendrils suddenly lashed out at him.

Unprepared for the attack, Naruto crossed his forehooves in a last minute means of defense before he found himself being hurled in the opposite direction and straight into the doors, shattering the unfortunate wooden structure into hundreds of splinters. Precious oxygen was knocked out of his lungs as he was slammed into the wall outside of the room with an echoing crack, leaving a brick angel Naruto-shaped crater on it, before dropping to the ground with a muffled thud.

"What in the..." He managed to cough out as he stood back onto his four hooves. "What was that...?"

His fur standing on its ends, he quickly barrelrolled to the side when a deadly arc of blue magic burst through the remains of the doors and made impact on the exact spot where he previously, effectively destroying the tiled floors and leaving a gaping hole in its wake within a matter of seconds.

"That was close." He said to himself as he watched the damage done. "Had I been a second to slow I'd be fried to nothingness."

"How impressive." He heard an entirely different mare voice spoke. "No pony has ever evaded my attacks before."

Going back into his defensive stance. Naruto's eyes hardened when he saw an entirely different pony emerged out of the room.

Instead of the blue mare from before, the pony that stood in front of him was covered in a blue coat fur that was as dark as the night itself accompanied by a few ocean blue armor pieces consisting of a Trojan unicorn helmet that has a circular hole in the center for her unicorn horn to protrude out, an intricately designed collar that was emblazoned with a crescent moon symbol in the middle and two pairs of pointy-edged hoof slippers that reached up to her knees.

The blonde chuckled. "Yeah, well, there's a first for everything."

"Not everything apparently."

"Huh?"

Looking downwards, Naruto let out a muffled curse when he realized that his hooves were now encased in a thick sheet of ice. How did he not realized this happened?

Flaring her Unicorn magic, the blonde stallion found himself struggling even more when he was suddenly imbued in the mare's magical aura and was effortlessly lifted off the ground with his ice-trapped legs still intact and was brought to face to face with the mare. Had it weren't for the feral look in her blue eyes, he would've deemed the mare to be a beautiful one. Nevertheless, he maintained a calm demeanor.

"Hmm…how odd." She spoke in a rather rich and prideful tone of voice, examining at him from left and right. "You're different than any other stallion I have seen before."

"Who are you?" He demanded. "And how did you get into this castle?"

The blonde was unprepared when the blue pony suddenly let out a cackled laugh at his question, almost if she had just heard the most funniest joke in the whole Equestria. "How did I get in here, you ask?" The elder mare repeated when her laughter died down, ignoring his first question smoothly. "I live here."

"...what?"

"As for who I am...I am sure you will find out soon enough." She elaborated. "For I will come back and reclaim what is rightfully mine."

What's rightfully her's? What does she mean by that?

"Until then, enjoy the sunlight while you can because it will be the last time you will ever see it."

And just like that, he was slammed onto the side of the wall head-first. For a brief second, he could have sworn he heard something important breaking inside him but he didn't have time to think about it for his vision immediately descended into the darkness.

…

The blonde jolted out of his bed in utter shock, beads of perspiration drenched his fur as he shakily clutched the kunai he had discreetly kept hidden underneath his bed.

He frantically looked for any hostiles, but there was none in sight. He was back in his room. No destroyed furniture, no crazy blue Alicorn mare, no nothing.

It was all...just a dream?

 _ **There you are.**_ Kurama mentally remarked. _**I almost thought you're dead or something.**_

Said blonde evidently flinched at the gruff voice inside his mind but quickly calmed himself when he remembered who it was. "Kurama…is that you?"

He snorted. _**Of course it's me. Who else could it be?**_

"Sorry, I just…I just…" Unable to find the proper words to express himself, he ended up finishing with a tired sigh.

 _ **You alright, Naruto? You've been thrashing in your sleep for quite a while now.**_

He was surprised by that.

"You didn't see it, Kurama?" Being the creature living inside his body, Kurama was capable of seeing his dreams as much as he does. It was for this sole reason he was able to instill nightmares on him back when he was still a child.

The fox shrugged nonchalantly. _**Not that I'm aware of. You made it a point for me to not disturb your dream long ago ever since I woke you up from one of your ramen fantasy.**_ He commented offhandedly.

Shedding off the blanket with a lazy if not tired throw, the orange stallion got off his bed and approached the one of the windows available. Grabbing the edge of the curtain with his mouth, he gently pulled the covers aside.

Sensing his tenant's discomfort, the fox bijuu decided to ask the million bits question. _**So what is it this time? It's unusually rare for you to be shaken like this.**_

Running a hoof through his messy blonde hair, Naruto could only sigh at the question. "Honestly, I've no clue." He replied, prompting Kurama to quirk an eyebrow. "One thing for sure though..."

He averted his gaze to look at the view outside.

"I got this bad feeling that it wasn't just a regular nightmare."

…

"And that's how I managed to vanquish all the skeleponies in the dungeon with only two strikes of my Holy Sword!"

Cadence could only giggle as the grey stallion continued to boast about his victory in his recent board game outing with his nerd friends. Its not even an hour after their picnic and he already started talking about his hobbies. While she had to admit, she only had little knowledge in what he was talking about, the pink Alicorn was just glad that he's enjoying himself. With his duties as the Lieutenant of the Canterlot Royal Guard, the grey stallion actually had little time to spend for himself. This was one of that moment.

"Why do you keep on playing those stupid games, Shiny?" Twilight innocently asked as she stuffed cookies after cookies into her mouth, getting into the genius aspects of herself. "From what I see, there's no beneficial aspects from playing those board games."

"Hey, its not stupid!" The Lieutenant shrieked, no doubt offended. "Its very educational!"

Leaving the two to settle their usual antics as usual, the Alicorn of Love decided to look around to appreciate the view. It was from then she realized that somepony wasn't enjoying the picnic.

Naruto had an utterly distant look on his face as he absentmindedly nibbled on a daisy sandwich and he had been acting like this ever since the very beginning. A rather weird thing considering how hyperactive he was.

"Is something wrong, Naruto?" Cadence finally asked in concern. "Does the food taste bad?"

Realizing his mistake, he quickly spoke, "Huh oh o no no, its fine. I was just thinking about something, that's all."

"And what would that be?" She inquired, suddenly found herself interested. After all, its not everyday the blonde would admit that he was thinking about something. It was even rare seeing the hyperactive blonde acting serious.

He waved the question off dismissive wave of his hoof. "Don't worry, it's nothing important."

"...I see." Cadence let her suspicious gaze lingering for a few second or two before changing the topic. "In any case, who's ready for Nightmare Night?"

"Oh! Me! Me! Me!" Twilight eagerly cried out.

"Totally! I can't wait to show other ponies the costume I've prepared!"

"What about you, Naruto? Aren't you excited for it as well?" Cadence inquired when he didn't give any response. "You do know what Nightmare Night is, right?"

Said stallion snorted at that. "Of course I do, I'm not that clueless."

"So?"

"So what?"

"Yeah dude, aren't you pumped up as we are?"

"I don't know. I mean, it's just a night where you ponies dressed up in costumes and get candies from other ponies, right?"

Licking his lips, the orange stallion brought the cider closer to his muzzle, only for it to stop midway when he noticed the incredulous looks the three were giving him. "What?"

"Dude are you serious?"

He shrugged. "Sorry guys but I just can't see anything fun about Nightmare Night."

The blonde brought the bottle to his lips once more but found itself stopping a few inches away still when Cadence spoke.

"Oh well, you know what that means..." Cadence trailed off, sneaking knowing glances with the other two in which he easily noticed.

"What?" He said in total alarm, finally giving up on trying to drink the cider. If there was something he didn't like to hear, that was one of them. "What does that mean?"

Cadence and Twilight grinend. "Its time for a little story telling!" They both said simultaneously.

"Wait what?" Naruto blurted in confusion.

"Oh oh oh!" Twily cried out the blue like a student begging for their teacher's attention during class time, effectively ignoring Naruto's intelligible statement. "Can I tell the story instead?"

"Are you sure, Twilight?" Cadence asked. "You know how to do the spell?"

"Of course I do. You kept on doing it for my bedtime stories, remember?"

There was a moment of pause before the Alicorn of Love smiled and nodded. "Alright, then go on ahead."

"Uh, what is she going to do?" Naruto asked worriedly as the filly's horn began glowing softly in purple magic.

Rather than giving him a straight answer, Shining Armor simply rested a hoof on his shoulder. "Dude, just relax and enjoy the show."

"...was that suppose to reassure me?"

The Lieutenant was about to give an answer to that question but decided to shut his mouth instead when the show was about to start. Seeing no way out of this, the orange stallion could only sigh and comply with what he said. He was startled however when a purple fog suddenly materialized in the center of their little picnic area.

Initially, the magic took no visible form and simply floated about like a vibrant-colored smoke. Then, under the purple filly's metaphorical grasp, the raw magic swirled into two distinctive pony figures standing above a cloud. One having a lighter shade of purple than the other.

 _ **Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled and created harmony for all the land.**_

 _ **To do this, the eldest used her unicorn power to raise the sun at dawn while the younger brought out the moon to begin the night.**_

Obliging the narrator's words, a sun rose beneath the clouds below and into the sky just when the elder sister tilted her horn up. Simultaneously, the younger sister mirrored the action afterwards but with a crescent shaped moon instead.

As Naruto stared at the scene before his eyes, he was inflicted with a small sense of deja vu in which he immediately shrug off.

 _ **Thus the two sisters maintained balance for the kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies.**_

 _For once, Naruto smiled. He didn't know why but he found the story to be rather sweet though he still can't see how it would connect with Nightmare-_

 _ **But as the time went on, the younger sister became resentful.**_

 _Ah, there we go_

 _ **The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night.**_

All of the sudden, Naruto flinched. He didn't know why but looking at the mirage of the supposed blue mare projected by Cadence, he was swarmed by a strong sense of déjà vu. And it wasn't a good kind of déjà vu.

 _ **One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn.**_

Despite being relatively simply in terms of visual projection, the story did a pretty good job in getting its readers into the right mood. Naruto himself found relatively more uncomfortable as the story telling went on.

 _ **The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon.**_

His breath hitched, the blonde's body went as stiff as a board when a eerily-familiar looking fog began to surround the blue mare and out came a pony he was all too familiar with. For the sake of filly fantasy, it was missing a few distinctive features such as her maniacal grin and razor sharp fangs but there was no denying it, it was the same mare he saw from his dream.

 _ **She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night.**_

 _ **Reluctantly, the elder sister fought against her younger sibling.**_

 _ **Eventually, she was forced to harness the most powerful magic known to ponydom, the Elements of Harmony.**_

"The Elements…of Harmony?" He whispered questioningly under his breath upon seeing seven different glowing orbs floating floating around the 'elder mare'. "What is that...?"

 _ **With the aid of the Elements of Harmony, she finally defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon.**_

Naruto's cerulean blue eyes went wide in bewilderment at that but luckily nopony noticed it.

 _ **Thus, the elder sister took on responsibility for both and harmony has been maintained in**_ _**Equestria for generations.**_

"And that...is how Nightmare Night was created." Twilight finished professionally before perking up in her usual filly excitement. "So how did it go? Did I do well?"

"Well done Twilight. You did better than I expected." Cadence complimented as she gently ruffled her pink-and-purple mane, prompting the filly to giggle in delight.

"Yeah Twily, that was pretty good. Still not as good as Cadence tho-" Whatever words he was about to say next, he didn't have time to say it when said Alicorn jabbed him by the ribs. Luckily, Twilight was too focused with Cadence's previous positive remark to pay her older brother any attention. Speaking about attention...

"So how about it, dude?" Shining inquired, changing the subject rather abruptly in an attempt to distract everypony as he tried to wring the ebbing pay away. "Are you interested in Nightmare Night now?"

Naruto could only reply with silence for he was too busy processing what he just heard. Averting his gaze elsewhere, he glanced at the vast blue skies with a thoughtful look before looking at the whole group before him. Finally, he grinned.

"So what do you ponies do during Nightmare Night exactly?"

 **Due to technical reasons, neither me or my sister was able to proof read it properly. Heck, I myself had an assignment that needed to be handed in the next 24 hours so I couldn't do anything about it. So if you guys happen to find any gaps in this chapter (or any other chapters before this) do leave a constructive feedback in the reviews. I'd greatly appreciate that.**

 **Also, I'm opening a few spots for Beta Readers to proof read my stories so if any of you guys are interested then do leave a PM. I'm not sure what I can give in return but I'm sure we can work it out. Keep in mind, we'll be giving you several tests to see if you're up to the task or not. This is to make sure that you're as good as you said you are. Think of it like a job interview of some sort.**

 **Anyway, off to finishing my assignments, see ya!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys, its DragonEmperror2810 here again! After a long contemplation and heavy decision making, I've decided to post the next chapter now. This is because if I left it any longer, I'll even**

 **On another, I terribly forgot to put the reviewer's reviews in the previous chapter so here you go:**

 **To KyuubiMakai009:**

As tempted as I am to tell you when, I'm afraid I can't. Just like how relationship in real life works, it requires a lot of time and complication to build up. You'll just need to keep on reading to find out more.

 **To Spark681:**

You'll find out soon enough! ;)

 **To biob1:**

Oh, are you sure about that? ;)

 **To Silber D. Wolf:**

Cool.

 **To Stratos263:**

He sure did.

 **To cadenceheart117:**

We sure will! Be sure to support us by leaving reviews and we'll provide you with equal amount of updates!

 **To JensenDaniels32:**

I beg your pardon? If you don't like Ponified Naruto or any other stories like this then you are more than welcome to ignore this. No need to leave inappropriate comments in the review section. Not all readers is of the adequate ages here.

 **The LoneWolfsRage:**

Definitely kind sir!

 **To UnsafestMoss81:**

Thanks you very much. As I scrolled through the story list, I noticed there weren't that many Naruto x Princess Celestia so I decided to make one myself. Its nice to see that a few of you guys appreciate it.

 **To bjh93jwh:**

Thanks! Just be sure to support us by reviewing our latesy updates and we'll return the favor by making more updates!

 **To :**

Thanks!

 **To Spark681:**

Thanks! With all he disadvantages he accquired from arriving in Equestria, he'll need all the help we can get if he wants to best Nightmare Moon and the rest of the enemies that comes after that.

 **To avatoa:**

Yes, that what bugs me the most actually. Based on what majority think, Shining Armor posesses white fur coat. However, based on the MLP Wiki, he has light gray instead. Makes me wonder just how 'light' his fur coat actually is.

 **To Arashi Uzukaze:**

If you're reading this message, I've sent you a PM in regards to the previous chapter. Be sure to check it out if you have the chance.

 **To SonJubbi:**

You'll need to read more to find out ;)

 **To Guest:**

Very true. I'm getting tired with the harem stories people make with Naruto myself nowadays so I decided to make a change.

 **To Guest (2):**

Is this a Naru/Celestia? Yes, yes it is

Is this a Naru/Marem? Definitely not.

 **With that said, on to the story!**

 **Fleur dis Lee**

Throughout his whole life as a human, Naruto had encountered numerous problems that may or may not affect his life. Although majority encompassed life-threatening situations such as people chasing after Kurama's chakra or intent on destroying the whole world, a fraction of it also affected his everyday life as well. Problems like not having enough money to pay the rent, trying to stay alive when hanging around with Sakura and last but not least, running low on Ramen supply. The worse crisis he'd ever came across.

When he first arrived here, the blonde thought he'd be able to leave those behind as well. As it turned out, that was not the case.

"Hey Cadence?"

"Yes Naruto?"

"Where are we going?"

About an hour ago, the pink Alicorn had summoned him as soon as his morning shift ended. She then proceeded on dragging him out of the castle and onto the bustling streets of Canterlot without a single word. He'd be lying to himself if he said he wasn't confused on what's going on."

"Oh we're going to the salon, of course." She giggled as if it was the obvious thing in the world.

"A salon?" He repeated incredulously at such an alien term. "You mean those place where you and Princess Celestia always go for hoofcures and things like that?"

"Why yes, what else would ponies go to a spa for?"

"So why are you bringing me here then?" He inquired, still not understanding the situation.

Much to his surprise and discomfort, Cadence let out an amused giggle at the question. "My dear sweet Naruto, haven't you looked yourself in the mirror nowadays? Particular your mane?"

"My mane?" Almost automatically, Naruto found himself running a forehoof through his spiky blonde mane. "What's wrong with my mane? It looks fine to me."

Apparently, that wasn't the answer she was looking for she immediately gave him a pointed look. "Looks fine? Looks fine!?"She repeated incredulously. "Its an absolute mess!"

"Yeah, isn't it always a mess?"

"Exactly." She agreed. "Which is why I'm bringing you the salon along with me. So that we can get it in tip top shape."

"Is it really necessary though?" He asked. "I mean, I could just cut it off with my knife-"

"No, absolutely not!" She declared, swiftly cutting his suggestion. "We're going to the salon and that's that! No more questions asked!"

Naruto pouted. For an Alicorn of Love, she's quite strict sometimes.

Still, Cadence made a valid point. As much as he wanted to do otherwise, his previous demonstration of personal barber skills weren't exactly...recommendable and he'd rather not repeat the scenario once more less he wanted to face the embarassment that comes after it.

"Besides," Cadence began, effectively earning his utmost attention. "I'm pretty sure Princess Celestia would appreciate it."

The phrase alone must've struck home in the blonde's mindscape as he briefly stopped within his tracks with an indifferent look on his muzzle.

"Naruto, are you alright?" Despite her verbal inquiry, there was a twinkle of mischief in Cadence's eyes as she said so. Almost as if she had expected this to happen. "You're spacing out for a bit there."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. I was just thinking that's all." He said as he was brought back tor reality.

"So how about it? Still not thinking on going to the salon?" She asked.

Silence. Naruto let out a tired sigh of defeat. "Fine. Just this once, I'll follow you to the salon." He declared firmly. "After this, I'm on my own. Deal?"

"Deal!" Cadence happily agreed, not even bothering to question the reasoning behind his sudden change of mind. "Come on, let's pick up the pace. The salon is only a few blocks away. You won't regret this, Naruto!"

He sighed for the umpteenth time of the day. "I really hope so."

 **...**

The salon was an interesting piece of structure to say the least. While it shared the same architecture as any other buildings surrounding it. Its cream white painted walls, tinted windows gave it a classic yet modern kind of vibe. Exactly the kind of place where he wouldn't like to go to.

It didn't help that upperclass ponies dressed in expensive clothings kept on going in and out of the place with their muzzles raised high.

"You know what," He exclaimed out of the blue. "I just remembered that I've got something important to do back at the castle. I'll be right back."

Turning around on his heels, Naruto tried to bail his way out of the problem he just got himself into. He only amnaged to go as far as a few hoofs before he found himself faceplanting into the road pavement courtesy of the Love Alicorn's magic binding one of his hooves.

"Oh no you don't. You're not getting away this time!" Cadence cried out as she clamped one of his hind leg with her magic and dragged him along. "You're going to get your hair cut, one way or another!"

"Come on, Cadence! Can't we just do this some other time?" Naruto desperately pleaded as he tries to claw his way out. "Like how about tomorrow, or a week or maybe even a month!"

"Not a chance!"

"This isn't payback for dropping your favorite cake the other day, is it? I said I'm sorry."

Cadence effectively stop advancing at that. "No its not." She then craned her head to look back at the blonde, a malovent smile written all over her face. One that doesn't go well with his already-beating heart."But seeing as you've mentioned it, it is now."

At this point, negotiation was no longer available and the blonde could only do what he possibly can at that very moment. He screamed and thrashed.

Neither of the two realized just how much ruckus they've made until and it stayed that way until the two went inside the doors.

Regardless what he did to evade his fate, Naruto got into the salon anyway. He was in a terribly rough shape but nevertheless still okay.

Even under his ragtagged condition, he still got enough strength to gaze around his new surrounding.

From what he gathered, he seemed to be lying on the floor of the reception lounge: the place where people would sit and wait for their turn to be treated in the salon. Just like what Cadence said and the view he had on the outside, the spa really must've been a high-class one due to the crystal chandelier that was hanging on the ceiling accompanied by all the other expensive furnitures he came across.

"Oh my, if it isn't Princess Mi Amore Cadenza."

Blinking his cerulean blue eyes, Naruto quickly jumped to all his four hooves to glance at the speaker. Had he knew any better, the mare he was staring at the moment had an awfully similar appearance to Princess Celestia especially with her well-groomed white fur and eyelashed eyes. The only things that differentiates her was her curly baby-pink mane that spoke volumes of elegance and her slightly shorter and slimmer body form.

Oblivious to his lament, the white mare slowly approached Cadence and gave her a courteous bow.

"What a pleasant surprise. It has been a while since you paid our establishment a visit here. How have you been?"

"Ah yes, I apologize about that, Fleur. Princess duties has been quite lately and I haven't had the time to tend to myself nowadays."

"It is fine. I understand very well. In any case, is there something I can help you with?"

"Ah yes, I was wondering if you could help a friend of mine trim his hair for one quick bit."

"A friend?" The mare named Fleur then tilted her head to get a clear view of Naruto before looking back at the Love Alicorn. For a split second, Naruto could've sworn he saw her eyes glinted for a bit there but he didn't have time to confirm it. "Royal Guard?"

"Royal Guard." Cadence confirmed. "Corporal to be exact."

She nodded at that. "Ah, I see. This will not do at all." She agreed with a hum to herself. "Rest assured Princess Cadence, we will help him in every way we can."

"Please do. He's pretty clueless about it."

"Well, are they all not?."

The two mares giggled at the inside joke, prompting the blonde to tilt his head backward in utter confusion.

"Anyway, I'll be heading somewhere else for hoofcure treatment so make sure to follow everything she said, okay, Naruto?"

"Wait, you're not coming with me?" Naruto asked, unable to hide the fear in his voice.

"Don't worry, Fleur has been a professional stylist for a long time now, if there is someone who can help you the most, its her."

Again, the white mare bowed her head, pleased at the praise. "You flatter me, Princess."

Glancing back and forth between Cadence and mare named Fleur, Naruto could only sigh in defeat for the umpteenth time of that day. "Fine."

"Great, I'll see you later then!" She chipped in happily before turning to Fleur once more. "He's all yours, Fleur."

"Very well, right this way, Mister Uzumaki."

Following the rather mysterious white mare, Naruto couldn't help but crane his head back to look at Cadence as she nonchalantly waved him off. As if she was a parent dropping off her filly to the daycare.

 **...**

As it turned out, the salon was divided into several different sections, each specialized in a particular spa treatment that ponies in this world deemed to be rather important. In one place, he'd saw a pony having her head trapped in what seemed to be an inverted bowl lying in which steam was wafting out from. In another section, he'd saw a mare having her hoofs tended in what Cadence proudly declared as hoofcure by another staff. For whatever reason, he had no absolute clue.

These ponies were really weird though he doubt he had the right to say anything about it.

Still following the mare at hoof, the blonde has yet to identify whether if he had saw the mare or not before. He tried to refresh his mind with all the 'numerous' ponies he met but to no avail. She was like an enigma.

"Is something wrong, Mister Uzumaki?" Fleur asked without turning around to look at the orange stallion, as if she has a third eye that kept a good lookout on him in case he'd do anything suspicious.

"Oh no, its nothing!" He hastily answered, averting his gaze somewhere else. "So uh, how long have you been working in this kind of...thing anyway?"

Showing no signs of being offended by his lack of language, the mare rubbed her chin in consideration. "Hm...that is a difficult question but I would say about thirty years or so."

Had he taken a drink right there, Naruto would've did a comical spittake. "T-Thirty years!?"

"You seem surprised."

"Ah well, it's just that...you know..." He said, trying to come up with the proper words but failing miserably. "You...don't look like you're more than thirty."

"Looks can be deceiving, Mister Uzumaki."

"But alas, we are not here to discuss about my age, we are here for you to redefine your mane."

As if on cue, the two arrived at a particular section of the salon that was rather spacious and luxurious than the rest.

"Have a sit, please." She instructed as she gestured towards the lone swivel chair in the room before heading to the table where all the tools and condiments were held. "So how would you like your mane done, Mister Uzumaki?"

"Uh well, Cadence said I could trust you on this so I'll just count on you to do what's best." He responded earnestly.

"Very well." As it turned out, Fleur was already one hoof ahead of him and has chosen the appropriate scissors, combs and other tools he wasn't familiar of whom were now floating all around her due to her magic. Naruto wasn't sure if he should be amazed or scared or if he should do both. "Shall we get started?"

…

The last time he went to the barber, the only things he ever asked for was a trim of his blonde hair and a shave of his beard which he rarely had surprisingly. Nice, cheap and simple. Nothing too fancy and nothing too simple.

What Fleur does is nothing he was familiar with.

Here and there, the blonde could see numerous tools zipping all around him like Chakra-influenced kunaisfollowed by the sound of the distinctive strand of his blonde hair being snipped off. He was too scared to even move an inch.

What was more surprising was that despite everything she was doing, Fleur was still able to held up a casual conversation with him.

"So I believe Princess Cadence said you are a Corporal now?" She inquired with a straight face.

"Uh yeah, I am." The blonde tried to wrinkle his muzzle off when a stray strand of his blonde mane landed there but it was quickly dealt with a single sweep of Fleur's brush.

"And how long have you been a part of the Royal Guard to be exact?"

Naruto hummed in consideration at the question. "About two months or so, I think."

"Oh really now? I am deeply impressed." She remarked, swiftly replacing her scissor with a smaller one for more accuracy. "Most new recruit ponies would still be stuck in Private ranking as of now. You must be exceptionally skilled to reach this far this quick."

"I wouldn't say that." The blonde responded with a weak smile. "I've still had a lot to learn about this place."

He was right. Although he had stayed here for two months, the blonde still possess little knowledge about Equestria as a whole and its neighbouring lands. Even with Princess Celestia and the rest of his pony friends' helpful guidance, it still wasn't enough. If he wanted to learn more experience, he'll need to find another way. Fast.

Unbeknowst to him, Fleur was assessing him with a straight "You are quite a humble one, I see."

"Huh?" He blurted out, not expecting the remark at all. "Did you say something?"

She shook her head"It is nothing. I was simply talking to myself." Fleur replied nonchalantly. "In any case, I am finished."

"You are? That was fast." Honestly, he wasn't sure why he thought it would be slow considering how fast-paced she did her work.

Nodding in agreement, Fleur used her unicorn to bring forth several mirrors for him to see. He was utterly speechless at the result.

First glance-wise, he still retained his signature spiky blonde mane. The only difference was that it was now shortened to a considerably decent length. Not only that but his side bangs were thinned out as well, giving him a much neater look than before. Not enough to make him look too uptight of course.

"W-Wow?" If he knew any better, it almost resembled his haircut back in Konoha.

"Do you like it?" Fleur inquired, her tilted head reflection appearing on the mirror. "I figured I'd do you a favor and refine your mane style a bit seeing as how you're a Royal Guard."

"Does it actually matter?"

"Why yes, it does actually." She said in uter confidence.

"Following the standard rules and regulation, all members of the Royal Guard are required to keep a neat mane so that they can become a healthy role model to civilians." She elaborated with utmost profesionalism. "In fact, your mane is actually a few inches away from breaking such rule." Seeing the befuddled look he had on his face, she continued, "You are not the first Royal Guard to ever visit here."

"Wow, Cadence was right. You really are good at this." The blonde complimented in amazement.

"But of course." She acknowledged with a courteous bow. "As a stylist, it is my sole duty to ensure that my clients leave this foundation with complete satisfaction. This includes knowing things that even they do not know."

"So how much do I pay?" He asked, unable to keep the timid from creeping up to his tone of voice. If there was one thing he do know, it's that professionals like her usually cost a fortune.

"Actually," She started"Considering how this is your first time here, it will be free of charge."

"Huh, it is?" He inquired, prompting the white mare to nod in confirmation once more.

"My foundation has a policy for charging not a single bit for any newcomers as means to promote our services."

"That's actually pretty nice of you." He pointed. If he knew any better, that was probably te first time he'd hear of such thing.

"Indeed, if it is any consolation, you are welcome to visit us when needed."

"Sure, I might just do that." As much as he hate to admit, a trip to a salon like this wasn't so bad at all

"So uh, I guess I'll be leaving now. " He said when the two were enveloped in an uncomfortable silence. "Thanks for your help again, Fleur."

"You are mostly welcome." She graciously replied. "I look forward to seeing you more often in the future, Naruto Uzumaki."

Still bowing courteously, she watched as the blonde awkwardly left the area. Once he was out of sight, Fleur averted her attention to tidying up the tools she used.

Chink!

"Hm?"

Glancing behind, the pink maned mare was astounded to see a satchel of gold lying on the the seat. She glanced up to the doorway but was only able to see a sliver of his blonde tail before disappearing for good.

…

"Looking good there, Naruto!" Such was the sentence he heard as he stepped out of the salon with his new look.

"Its good, I guess." He commented shyly as he ran a hoof through his newly-profound hair.

"Of course it is! By Celestia, I'd developed a crush for you by now if I'm not in love with Shining Armor already."

He sarcastically laughed at the feedback. "Very funny, Cadence." He said as he stepped out of the establishment. "And please, don't do that next time."

"What do you mean?"

"You planned this with Fleur before, right?"

"Huh, what makes you say that?" She asked in a quizzical manner.

He gave her an odd look for that. "...you didn't planned it?"

"No, I don't." Sh acknowledged seriously. "Why? Did something wrong happen, Naruto?"

"It's..." He stammered, glancing back at the salon before looking back at her. "It's nothing."

"...alright then."

"Anyway, I've received a letter from Princess Celestia a while ago." She said, gesturing to the rolled paper parchment that was floating beside her. "We should get back to the castle soon."

That immediately caught the blonde's attention at once. "Why, did something bad happen?"

"Not at all. Its more to the opposite actually." Seeing the befuddled look on his muzzle, she elaborated further with a excited smile on her face, "From what I read, it seems you'll be having your first mission tomorrow."

 **And thats a wrap for chapter 8!**

 **So I've been meaning to tell you guys earlier but I've never had the chance to do so until recently.**

 **As you all know, I'm a Fanfiction author with the ridiculous username of DragonEmperror2810. However, if you googled DragonEmperror2810 (mind the double 'r' less you want to come up with nothing as result), you'll notice that I'm also available in Deviantart ( ) as well. This is because I also operate as part time traditional artist.**

 **As of now, I haven't done much arts because I'm still learning but you can expect to see more especially when my sis suggested that I should add concept arts for Sentinel of Harmony characters in Deviantart. By doing this way, you guys will be able to easily imagine how each characters actually look like...especially how Naruto looks in the story. So yeah, if you guys are also a member of Deviantart, feel free to follow if you want to see any of my arts. I usually draw things that usually revolves around mecha, MLP, catgirls, waifu materials etc.**

 **On another note, I'm also available in the phone app Amino Art with the username Taufiq2810. Contrary to what I've put in Deviantart, I usually just put low quality images of the random things I draw on a daily basis. But I'm more active there so whichever's fine. Don't forget to say hi if any of you are available there as well!**

 **Looking forward to what you guys think of in this chapter!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys, DragonEmperror2810 here once again!**

 **Just a little warning, this particular chapter will be shorter than the previous ones. I originally wanted to make it longer but a minor Writer's Block prevented me from going any further so I decided to post this one first to get it out of the way.**

 **On to the reviewer's review section:**

 **To :**

Thanks, I'm glad you like it!

 **To Spark681:**

Oh, you'll find out soon enough, my friend.

 **To Minato 1:**

Thanks, I'll be sure to keep up the effort!

 **To mellra:**

To be honest, I've no idea how much more chapters I'll do until the first season but I'll do my best to reach it as soon as possible. And yes, Naruto and Princess Celestia will play a bigger role than the ones in canon. I'll guarantee you that. As for Discord…you'll find out soon in the near future. And thank you for the compliment, I wouldn't say I'm talented in art just yet but I'll continue to improve myself to become one.

 **To Guest:**

Well I originally planned it to be a marem but seeing as how I've already seen plenty of them in the Naruto x MLP fandom, I decided to be unique and make a single pairing instead. Plus, I have made quite a few plans for him and Princess Celestia already in which I'm sure you'll find as equally entertaining as a marem story.

 **To Moss Stories:**

Well, I can't guarantee fast updates but I'll try my best to make each chapters as entertaining as possible for everybody.

 **To Guest (2):**

Fun Fact: Naruto is actually older and more experienced than Cadence and Shining but he let them think otherwise. Less troublesome, he said.

 **To Antex- The Legendary Zoroark:**

Simple answer, lots of things happened, lots and lots of things.

 **To Arashi Uzukaze:**

Oh yeah, about that. I was actually about talk about something to you but I sent the PM to the wrong guy. But in any case, the problem has passed and everything's fine now so don't mind about it.

 **To Arashi Uzukaze (2):**

Well, I've got no problems with bestiality but for the sake of general public's comfort and smoother flow of storyline, I decided to make Naruto as a pony. Besides, there aren't that many fanfictions that portrays pony Naruto so I'd like to make one.

To Guest (3):

Well if you don't like it, you're more than welcome to stop reading and ignore this story. I'm sure there are plenty of other stories out there in the fandom, both in and , that fits your particular taste. You just need to keep on looking.

 **To bjh93jwh:**

Thanks, I'm glad you like it.

 **To I know I know:**

No, I don't apparently.

 **First Mission**

Back in Konoha, the Hokage office is the heart of operations for all its shinobis. It's the very locations where leaf shinobis headed off to both receive and conclude their missions given, regardless if it was a top-secret or just an any day E-rank missions.

Many people had always assumed that the Hokage office or the Hokage building in general was always carelessly left unguarded. That was far from the truth. Hidden out of people's sight were a dozen of ANBU shinobis who kept a lookout of the Hokage every twenty-four seven. They're required to remain in their posts until the next shift of ANBU showed up to replace them or when the Hokage ordered them to for privacy situation.

In this world, there was no Hokage office. There wasn't even a Hokage building even. The only thing that was close to such was the spacious room within the center of the Canterlot Castle famously recognized as the throne room where Princess Celestia often resided when dealing with the usual kingdom matters.

"Uh, Princess Celestia, You left the window opened."

Whether if Princess Celestia was surprised or not, she didn't show it. Instead, she casually put the paper parchment she was busily examining this whole time, got off her throne and stepped down.

"I figured you'd come prefer the window over the door. After all, you said it yourself that you favor such unorthodox entrance." The Princess of the Sun stated before mildly frowning. "Though I sincerely wish I was wrong."

"Heheheheh, that's how I roll."

"In any case, thank you for coming, Naruto." Princess Celestia said. "I appreciate the help."

"Its fine, I could use a little workout anyway." He replied with a smile. "So what do you want me to do, Princess Celestia? From what Cadence spoke, it sounds really important."

That was far from the truth. She didn't actually make it sound as such. It was the orange stallion himself who made a big deal out of it. Even to the point where he downright abandoned her in the middle of the city as soon as he received word about it.

"Tell me, Naruto, have you heard of a place called Ponyville?"

He nodded affirmatively. "Yeah, it's that small town that's not too far from here." Raising a hoof, the blonde pointed towards a particular window where a small town can be sighted just beyond the horizon. "What about that place?"

"At the centre of the town, there's a structure called Golden Structure Library. It's the town's one and only library that was recently build just a few years ago." She began as she brought forth a picture for him to see. Sure enough, there was indeed a treehouse there. It wasn't as big as he originally thought it would but it definitely looked cozy for a living. "Every year, the Canterlot archive curators would deliver a dozen of books which are to be added to the library's growing collection."

"But I'm guessing there's a problem with the delivery?" He asked, adding one and one together, his eyes still focused on the picture in his hoof. Although he doesn't question the feats these ponies were capable of doing courtesy of their magic, the blond found himself questioning how they were able to build such place without a Mokuton user.

The white Alicorn smiled at his sharpness. "Yes, there is." She acknowledged. "Just a few days back, we received a word that our usual delivery workers were having a difficulty with their work. As such, they wouldn't be able to help us for this year."

Putting the picture away, she finally turned towards Naruto with her usual gentle yet serious expression that he had grown accustomed to. "This is where you come in, Naruto. I need you to deliver those books to Ponyville by tomorrow on behalf of the Canterlot's main archive."

"Seems easy enough. I'll do it." He acknowledged without missing a beat. "How long will I have to stay there?"

"Wonderful. Then I advise you to pack up your lbag by tonight then because you'll be leaving tomorrow first thing in the morning." There was a momentarily pause before she continued. "…you do have a bag of your own, correct?"

… **..**

Following the mare-in-charge's words, Naruto managed to gather his belongings for the trip. He didn't have that many necessities to begin with so he didn't have to worry too much.

Unfortunately for him, somepony did.

"Do you have your toothbrush?"

"Yes."

"What about your manecomb?"

"Got it."

"Your umbrella?"

"…ye—wait what?"

Cadence sighed exasperatedly at his response. "Come on Naruto, you can't honestly go around without carrying a umbrella by your side."

Naruto gave her a confused look at that. "Uh Cadence, I have hooves, you know."

"So? Doesn't mean you can't use one."

"Cadence," Shining spoke, resting a reassuring hoof on her shoulder. "I think he got the message."

Said pink Alicorn simply sighed in defeat. "Sorry, I'm just…I'm just worried."

"Guys," He said to earn their attention. "I'll be fine. It's not like I'm leaving Equestria or anything."

"You promise you'll send letters?"

He rolled eyes at that. "I only be away for a few days. Three at most." He reminded with a smile, prompting her to pout indignantly. "Alright, alright, I promise."

"Good, I expect you to keep your word for it."

"I still think you should wear the armor." Shining remarked after having a good look of his current getup.

It wasn't anything fancy but Naruto had decided to wear a cheap brown cloak that was wrapped around his body, giving him a ragtag kind of adventurer. Tucked underneath said cloak was his handy dandy knife strapped to his left forehoof. He still didn't want to use the kunais he brought along since that would arouse suspicion to the ponies around him.

"Not a fan, remember?" He said with a grin. "Besides, you yourself said that I have the option to wear the armor or not when I'm outside the castle grounds, remember?"

"Unfortunately." He lamented to himself. "In any case, try not to do anything risky when you're out there. Me and Cadence won't be able to cover for you if anything bad happens."

"That's true."

"Oh, come on everypony, I'll be fine." He retorted. "All I have to do is just deliver some dusty old books in a town nearby and stay there for a few nights. It's not like I'm venturing off into somewhere dangerous or anything."

Shining and Cadence shared uneasy looks at each other. "We know that but still…" Cadence looked like she had something to say about that but whatever words she was about to say next, it was drowned when the train suddenly whistled to life.

"All aboard the train to Ponyville!" The conductor declared as he popped his out from the train window.

"I guess that's my cue to go." Without a moment to miss, he enveloped his two friends in a big surprise hug, surprising the two greatly. "Don't worry guys, I promise not to make any trouble there."

"Alright, you better keep your promise!" Cadence warned firmly as they watched him slowly make his way to one of the many . "The last thing I need to hear is some news about a Royal Guard setting a treehouse on fire by accident."

Stopping his advance to the train, the blond flashed the pink Alicorn a mischievous smile. "No promise on that one!"

 **And that's the end for chapter 8. Don't forget to post a review and tell me what you think of this chapter as a whole! I'll see you guys very soon. DragonEmperror2810 out!**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello everypony, its DragonEmperror2810 here again. How have you been doing lately. I hope you guys are doing well because things are certainly going well in my case.**

 **Why do you ask? Well, it's because we are nearly complete with the prologue aspect of The Sentinel of Harmony. Soon we'll be entering the first arc (which is the first season of MLP) I can't exactly tell how much chapters we have left but we are definitely getting close.**

 **As of now, Naruto has met majority of the character that I deemed to be important that originates from Canterlot. All that's left are the characters from Ponyville which he'll be making contact with soon in this chapter and the next one.**

 **Let's move on to the reviewer's review section, shall we?**

 **To T-B-R:**

Yes, I apologize for that. There was something about that previous chapter that demotivates me from writing any further and I just had to let it out of my system less I want to make any more delays with the story.

 **To Guest:**

Don't worry about it. Naruto won't have any harem but that doesn't necessarily mean he's no longer dense with the females around him. Just continue on giving me your full support and you'll see what I mean.

 **To AlphaBlackWolf21:**

Thanks, I really appreciate it!

 **To :**

I'm glad you like it!

 **To ABitterPill:**

As much as I want to do so, there are a few problems that prevents me from doing it

Not everyone has a Fanfiction account so I can't exactly give a PM to them.

I do not have the time and courtesy to PM every single one of you so this is more convenient for me.

Not everyone checks their inbox so this is more convenient for all of you.

The last time I sent PMs to my readers, I was returned with an array of spam messages because they thought that just because I sent something to them personally, they thought we were close buds.

Most of the time, some of your feedbacks (Like this one for example) is actually a reasonable FAQs so by posting it along with the latest chapter, I'll be able to reduce the number of people asking the same questions which in return keeps me from repeating myself over and over again since most people (if not everyone) will have a chance to read it.

Those are my reasons for this. If you think having this thing is a nuisance, you'd be surprised how bad it'll be if I didn't. That being said, we'll take your feedback into consideration and will try to keep the response-to-story ratio as minimal as possible for your reading comfort. Thanks for pointing that out.

 **To Betoran:**

Yes, about that. When I first participated in , I expected that the story-uploading aspect of it will be similar and easier just like . Turns out it was much more complicated than what I've done before this. The fact that I did it on my old laggy laptop didn't help one bit.

Thankfully, I've acquired a new laptop now so I should be able to resume updating. Be advised, the chapters in might differ than what you see here in because the latter acts as a trial for me to figure out any loose knots of a particular chapter before posting it to the former account. It was for this reason that I need all of your feedbacks so that we can fix our mistakes.

 **To Guest (2):**

Don't worry, you'll see more very soon!

 **To X3runner:**

Thanks! When I first joined the fandom, I wasn't too keen when I noticed that majority of the stories are harem-based so I figured I'd step out of the box and make a much more unique one where Cadence, Shining Armor and Twilight has a sibling-like relationship with him.

That being said, those three aren't the only ones who'll be in similar relationships with Naruto. You'll find out what I mean in the next three chapters or so.

 **To elemental wolf sage:**

Whoever said I nerfed him? I just merely made him having problems using his old powers. Besides, you'd be confused yourself if you were turned into a Pegasus or unicorn.

 **To jordanlink7856:**

Thinking of a bizarre crossover story is one thing, writing it into reality is on a whole different level. And for us authors, it's a challenge we can't help but accept and give a go.

 **With that said, let's move on to the story!**

 **Making New Friends (Part 1)**

The train trip to Ponyville was relatively short but Naruto had no complains with that.

Glancing outside, the blond could see the outlines of the relatively neighboring town. Truth to be told, he wasn't particularly interested in using transportations because they're slower than regular shinobi travels but he'll have to make do since it was Princess Celestia who arranged it for him. Plus, the books he was carrying in his saddlebags would slow him down in more ways than one.

"Mares and gentlcolts, we have now arrived at Ponyville!" The conductor declared from the front of the wagon. "Please don't forget to bring your luggage along as you went outside. We look forward to your next visit!"

Pulling the hood over his head, the blond silently obliged and reached for his 'luggage'. It was the same conductor that he rescued a few months ago but it doesn't look like he recognized him just yet. Slinging the pair of saddlebags that contained all the books he was entrusted with, Naruto got off the bench and headed off to one of the many opened doors available.

As he waited for the train to came to a halt, Naruto took the opportunity to recap what he learnt before this. He had heard plenty of good stories about Ponyville but the blond never actually get to see said town. Now, he has finally the opportunity to see the vast world outside the high walls of Canterlot.

Stepping outside the train, the first thing he noticed was the smaller number of pony population. The next thing he realized was the fresh air that was flowing through the air, one that was devoid of the usual choking sensation Canterlot had.

Naruto took a deep sigh before grinning. "Five seconds in Ponyville and I'm already liking this place." He admitted.

"I know right, this place is awesome!"

"Huh?"

Surprised by the reply when he shouldn't be receiving any, the blonde glanced to his left. He jumped a bit when he finally took notice of the pink mare that was standing beside him. When did she…?

In terms of appearance, the filly has messy mane that looked like she just got out of a washing machine accompanied by a pair of blue eyes filled with uncontrollable joy. But that wasn't what caught his interest, what did was the huge bag that was resting on her back. It was literally cramped with a multitude of random things to the point where it looked like it could explode any minute and if he knew any better, the bag was probably three times as big as the pony carrying it.

"Hi there! I'm Pinkie Pie, what's your name?" She asked in an extremely cheerful matter.

"Uh Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki." The blond was a bit skeptical to reveal his name but he supposed there's no harm in doing it.

"Na…ru…to…U…zu…maki?" She repeated each syllable carefully before giggling. "You have a really weird name, Nato Uzumaker!"

The blond did a doubletake at the new nickname and found himself wondering whether if his name was indeed the weird one here. He shook his head and grinned, albeit sheepishly

"It's nice to meet you…Pinkie…Pie, I'm gonna go ahead and go somewhere now."

Taking a side step to the left, the blond tried to trot pass the hyper go lucky pink mare, only to be stopped when she reflected his action albeit in a faster manner.

"Ooooooooooh, where are you going?" She asked, putting her muzzle directly against his own.

Naruto slowly took retracted his head to a comfortable distance, a sheepish grin on his face. "Uh…somewhere important?" He responded as he sidestepped to the opposite direction and went on ahead. Good news: she didn't block him again. Bad news: she was now bouncing beside him.

"Really? What kind of important? Is it like top secret government kind of important?"

"Uh, I don't think it's like that…"

"Don't worry, I can keep a secret!" She hissed loudly. As if they weren't obvious enough.

"I appreciate the thought but like I said, it's not that kind of important." Naruto didn't know why but he began to feel himself sweat a little from being around with this filly. She didn't look like she posed a threat to him but his shinobi instincts told otherwise.

"Say, have you heard of the Sugar Cube Corner?"

Naruto stared at her as if she just defied the laws of this universe itself. "The what now?"

"The Sugar Cube Corner! You know, the place in Ponyville where they make and sell all sorts of sweets!" She elaborated, as if it would answer everything. It didn't.

"Sorry but I don't think I've ever heard of a place called Sugar Cube Corner." With the bizarre names the occupants of this world managed to make, he'd be surprised he'd be able to remember one on the next day.

Pinkie gasped loudly at his response, effectively earning the attention of everypony that were within a hundred feet radius. So much for keeping a secret. "You've never heard of the Sugar Cube Corner!?"

The blonde recoiled at the sudden increase in volume but went on ahead with his response. "Not that I remember any."

"Why!?" She demanded rather hysterically, shaking his body back and forth like a possessed individual. "The Sugar Cube Corner is, like, the best place you could ever go to! Not that I have ever visited that place or anything but still—" Suddenly, she gasped, as if she was gifted with a splendid idea. "I know, why don't we go there together!"

Naruto gazed at her with swirls in his eyes. "What?"

His inquiry fell deaf on her eyes as the pink mare wrapped his hoof around him and pulled him closer without any slightest of warning. For a little filly, she sure was strong.

"It'll be awesome! We'll be able to eat all sorts of candy they have there! Oh, maybe we'll be able to get a job there as well! I've always wanted to work at the Sugar Cube Corner or even any bakery for that manner!"

At this point, the pink mare who calls herself Pinkie Pie started to drool excessively, almost to the point where her saliva was pooling around her hooves. Naruto doubt any sensible commentary would reach her now.

"Uh Pinkie?" Naruto called out, taking a step back so that he doesn't mistakenly stepped onto the pool of saliva. "I appreciate the offer but I've got something important to do somewhere else so I can't go with you."

Naruto then glanced around for a bit to make sure the coast was clear before he spoke, "So yeah, have fun at Sugar Cube Corner without me!" Taking the short moment of distraction to a good use, Naruto disappeared in a blink of an eye.

…

"Well that was unexpected,"

After having a brief encountered with the rather odd pink pony, Naruto was finally able to get away from her while she was distracted.

Deciding to take a short break, he was now leaning on a random tree to take a few breather.

"Now where is the Golden Oak Library?" He said that. "Scratch that, where am I?"

In the midst of escaping Pinkie Pie, the blonde found himself somewhere in the outskirts of Ponyville. How he got here, he had no absolute clue.

"I didn't go that far, did I?" He said worriedly.

Not too soon after he said so, the orange stallion caught sight of a mare all by herself next to the river. He quickly rushed to her side, failing to notice the gloomy look she had on her muzzle.

"Excuse me!"

The yellow mare evidently jumped at that, no doubt was surprised by his presence. Unfortunately, the blond was far too ecstatic to actually notice this sort of reaction.

From a first glance's perspective, she was a rather petite mare with curly baby-pink mane that covered over one of her blue eyes and was covered in pastel yellow fur.

"Sorry for disturbing you but I was hoping if you can help me for a bit. I got a bit lost in case you didn't notice."

Said mare gave no response. Instead, she let out a barely-noticeable whimper and gingerly took a step back.

"Huh, is something wrong?" He inquired upon realizing the look of discomfort on her partially-mane covered face. "Was it something I said?"

Again, the pink maned pony said nothing in return. Instead, she looked somewhere else, prompting Naruto to do the same.

Not too far from their current position, there was a line of trees nearby and perched on one of the many high branches of one of these trees was a white fluff. Further investigations led him to believe that it was a rabbit. A white rabbit to be exact.

"Ah, I see what's going on." He said, adding one and one together. He grinned. "Don't worry, I got this covered."

Had he been focused enough; the blond would've noticed that she was a Pegasus and that she should be able to fly up there and get the bunny herself. He mentally shrugged. He supposed not everypony was able to do what they're born to be.

Resting a hoof on tree bark, Naruto tried to assess how tall the tree was and whether if he can accomplish such a feat. A moment of silence lingered by before he grinned, "Not a problem for me."

Closing his eyes shut, the blonde tried to tap into his Chakra source. It was hidden deep within his body but it was definitely still there. Pressing a forehoof on tree bark, the blond inwardly grinned when he saw the faint bluish outline of his Chakra. His grin grew wider when he felt the signature magnetic-like sensation of his appendage being stuck onto the surface.

"Let's do this."

Once he was sure his Chakra flow was consistent on all his four hooves, the blond then did the process of vertically climbing up the tree step-by-step. The tree was taller than he expected but it wasn't proven to be an issue for him as he arrived at his designated tree branch.

"Hey there, bunny-chan." The blonde cooed once he was sure he was secured on the branch. To be fair, he could've used his Chakra but he didn't want to rouse any suspicion especially with the mare down below watching him. "Don't be scared, I'm here to save you."

Said bunny simply spared him a brief glance before looking back into the horizon.

"Heh, you're a stubborn one, aren't you?" He remarked when he saw its initial reaction. "Tell you what, why don't we make a deal."

Said bunny's long ears visibly perked up at that, a minute enough sign to tell that he caught its attention.

"A friend of mine brought me way too many carrots this morning. If you cooperate with me then I might be able to share some if not all of them with you." He offered, the smallest of smirk forming on his muzzle. "So how about it? Do we have a deal?"

Again, the bunny showed no acknowledgement for the first few seconds and the blonde wondered if the snow fluffy creature understood his manner of speech but scratched such thought aside when the bunny averted its gaze to him, a mischievous smirk that rivaled his own plastered on its face.

As silent as it was, it quietly hopped over to his side before putting its paw out towards him. Naruto gladly shook it back with his own hoof.

"A pleasure doing business with you."

Having met various woodland creatures in the past, both docile and hostile, he had learnt that the best way to earn their trust is by giving them food. It was for this reason, the blond always kept some small food rations in his pouch with him all the time. And luckily for him, the rule also applies in this world.

"Now come on, your friend over there look like she might have a heart attack if we don't go down." He pointed out as he peered to the mare on the ground.

If Naruto knew any better, the look of absolute terror on the pink-maned mare's muzzle awfully reminded him of Shikamaru's face when he was informed that his wife was in labor.

Once again, the blond questioned why the Pegasus didn't just fly her way up top with that wing of her's but he decided to save the question for another day. Right now, he has a rabbit to 'rescue'.

Eagerly nodding at his inquiry, the white rabbit went into a crouching stance before doing a massive leap into one of his saddlebag underneath his cloak. Once he was sure that it was secured, he did the inevitable effort of scaling down the tree bark.

He could've just hopped like he always does but that probably wouldn't go well with his spectator now, would it?

"Here you go, I believe this is your frie—"

"Angel Bunny!" Faster than he could ever comprehend, the pastel yellow pony practically lunged and snatched the white rabbit from him before he could as much as finish his sentence.

"Oh thank goodness you're alright!" She cried out in absolute relief as she clutched the animal to her death before examining it for any signs of injury or whatsoever. "You're not hurt, are you? Were you scared, Angel Bunny? Because I certainly do!"

As she continued to cuddle herself with the bunny, the orange stallion had to resist the urge to chuckle when he saw how unamused and grumpy 'Angel Bunny' looked. At least now he knew the reason why it got up there in the first place.

"I'm not a healer myself but Angel Bunny looks pretty fine to me." Naruto stated, ignoring the 'Are-you-serious?' the woodland creature was giving him.

It seemed the mare had totally forgotten his existence there for she immediately went timid again, much to his dismay. Naruto winced. He should've seen that coming.

"Say, now that I helped you, would you mind if I ask for a small favor"

"O-Oh, um sure thing."

Naruto grinned. "Great, I was hoping if you can show in the direction of the Golden Oak Libr—"

Not long after he said so, the blonde stallion felt his fur stood up on their ends in an instinctive manner.

His grin now faltering, the blond sighed. "That's not good."

"I-I beg your pardon?"

Whether if he heard her response or not, Naruto didn't acknowledge it as he squinted his cerulean blue eyes into the horizon. It was faint not to mention still a distance away but he could see something was heading their way. Fast.

"Get away from her!"

Fast to react, the blond did what was best for them and stepped back just in time for the blur zoomed passed between them at the speed of sound, leaving the two to eat their dust. Naruto was pretty much used to the distraction but the unfortunate Fluttershy wasn't and went into a coughing fit.

"You alright?" He inquired out of concern.

"Y-Yeah, I'm fine."

"I'm guessing she's a friend of yours'?" He inquired as he looked into the horizon where the blur disappeared to.

"Y-Yes."

As if on cue, said blur appeared once more. This time, it learnt better and was able to screeched to a halt right in between him and the mare.

As it turned out, the blur was in fact another filly that was probably the same age as the pink-maned mare. She has messy rainbow-colored mane that reached down to the base of her neck and was covered in a layer of light blue fur.

"What do you think you're doing to Fluttershy, huh!?"

Naruto casted her a pointed look. "Excuse me?"

"Don't act dumb with me! You're trying to bully her, aren't you!?"

"U-Um Rainbow Dash, he's actually—" Fluttershy began, indirectly revealing the blue mare's name to the confused blond.

"Don't worry Fluttershy, I'll take care of him, you just stay there!" Rainbow Dash declared, still oblivious to the scenario.

"No, that's not what I meant to—"

Once again, the unfortunate shy pony was stopped from saying any further when Naruto raised his forehoof.

"It's alright, Fluttershy, I can deal with her."

"Oh no, why doesn't anypony ever listen to me?" She quietly cried to herself as she clutched Angel Bunny tightly.

"So you're name's Rainbow Dash?"

"Heck yeah, I am!"

"Listen here, Rainbow Dash, I'm not here to cause any trouble. I just wanted to ask for directions from your friend, that's all."

Rainbow Dash snorted. "Oh yeah, as if I'm believe that!" She retorted. "You just want to bully Fluttershy just like everypony else!"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow at that, partially offended by the half-baked accusation and partially interested by the brief information. "Bullying? That's not—"

"Enough talking!" She cried out. "I'll show you what happens when you mess with my friend!"

"Well, I tried to talk my way out of this—" The orange stallion sighed in disappointment.

' **Talk your way out of this? When does that ever work for you?'** Kurama mentally stated.

"—but you leave me with no choice."

"Ready or not, here I come!" She said as she suddenly charged at him.

The blue mare referred to as Rainbow Dash was fast. Faster than a regular filly if he would.

The second he saw how her body and legs tensed up in preparation, Naruto knew she wasn't somepony he should take lightly off. His amazement grew even further when she covered the distance between them within matter of a split second.

Unfortunately, that amazement went out the window when she harmlessly zoomed pass him. Blinking his cerulean blue eyes in utter surprise and confusion, Naruto spun around just in time to see her ram herself muzzle first into a random tree bark.

SMACK!

Wincing at the sound, Naruto opened his eyes to see that the blue mare has rammed into a tree bark and was partially stuck inside it with her flank sticking out.

"You coward! You dodged me!" Rainbow Dash muffled cry can be heard from inside the tree.

Naruto jerked his head at that. "Uh no, I didn't." He pointed out blankly. He barely even moved a single muscle, much less evade completely.

"Liar! You'll pay for that!" She said as she tried to pull herself out but failing miserably. "After I, ugh, get out of this!"

"Are you alright there?" Naruto asked when he saw her struggling to pull herself out.

"I'm perfectly fine!" She snapped. "Just you wait! Once I'm out of this, I'm going to kick your butt!"

Naruto quirked an eyebrow. The threat would've worked a slight bit if she wasn't partially stuck in a tree with her flank sticking out in his direction which he didn't need to see.

"Well, at least that take cares of that." He spoke. Seeing the worry in Fluttershy's eyes, Naruto elaborated, "Don't worry about your friend, she'll be fine."

"A-Are you sure? She doesn't look like it."

Naruto shrugged. "Well, judging from her attitude as it is now, I highly doubt that being stuck in a tree trunk would stop her."

"Hey!" Rainbow Dash's muffled cry can be heard from within the tree bark.

"See what I mean?"

"I-If you say so."

"Still, I think it'd be better if I go now." He said.

"In the meantime, I think you should help your friend there. She looks to be in a pickle."

"Again, it was nice meeting you

"Y-You too, um—" Fluttershy's voice trailed away when she remembered something. "I'm sorry but I don't know your name."

"…You know what, I'm going to go ahead and take my leave." He got this weird feeling that the more he stayed here, the worse the situation would become.

"Yes…you should." She meekly agreed, nervously glancing between him and her stumped Pegasus friend.

Casting the unlucky Pegasus one last concerned look, the blond resumed his journey in search of the Golden Oak Library.

' **Do you even know where that place is?'**

"…Kami, I forgot to ask!"

 **Alright, that's a wrap for chapter 10! Don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you think about this chapter!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Evening everyone! Apologies for the extremely late update!**

 **Ever since I took the vice president mantle of my college's Anime club from the previous semester, I find myself occupied with a lot of matters. Teaching my members how to draw, preparing tutorial materials for next sessions and figuring out what interesting activities that they can do aside than watching Anime on a daily basis like previous semesters etc.**

 **A lot of my friends even told me that I was being rather a workaholic with my club duties. Frankly, they aren't wrong it.**

 **But in all seriousness, this was probably one of the roles that I genuinely enjoy taking part of. And I think it's for the best for everyone too since some of my committee members weren't exactly doing the best in their job (and I presume they didn't take the roles willingly either) so in the end, I had to pull all the strings.**

 **Enough ranting about my every day life, lets move on to the reviewer's reviews and then proceed to the main story, shall we?**

 **To Guest(1):**

Thanks, I'll need all the support I can get :D

 **To Guest(2):**

We'll see. It's a good scenario but I'll need to review through my script just to be safe.

 **To :**

Thanks for the compliment! :D

 **To X3runner:**

Yeah, we try to be as realistic as possible since other stories do portray them being way too friendly with him. But that pretty much applies to the actual MLP series.

 **To Guest:**

Got it.

 **To jordanlink7856:**

I totally agree

 **To Jason vines(1):**

I'm afraid I cannot guarantee that since I'll be heavily occupied managing my college club. But I'll do my best to update as much as possible

 **To Shibo66:**

We cannot guarantee that we will post updates as frequently as before since my club will be doing plenty of activities next year but we'll try our best to meet your expectation.

 **To Seanyboy1996:**

Unfortunately, I have my hands tied up from handling my club in college. It would've been fine but some of my club committees weren't being helpful throughout the whole semester so I had to carry the weight of the team on my own. Regardless, we will try our best to cope with our writing and speed the overall process up

 **And with that onto the story!**

 **Oh and in case you guys haven't noticed, the Reviewer's Review section only applies to people who posted reviews from the latest chapter. So if the latest chapter is chapter 10 then I'll only review those that are from chapter 9. Sorry but we try to reduce the word count from Author's Note since a previous reader pointed out that their dislike for it.**

 **Just a head's up for all of you!**

 **Making New Friends (Part 2)**

Travelling was never usually an issue for Naruto. A journey that would take months for a civilian to venture through will simply take a couple of hours' time for a shinobi. Wrong direction? He can just simply take a detour and retraced his steps. Lost in the middle of nowhere? He can activate his Senjutsu and look around.

Unfortunately, that was no longer the case.

Stripped off parts of his powers because of his newly-profound horse form and restricted by the magic-infused atmosphere of this very realm, the orange stallion's current abilities were very limited. Problems that was initially of no concern to him has now returned full force.

He hated it.

"Now, according to Princess Celestia, the library should be somewhere in the town center," He as he resumed looking around. After everything that he has done, the blond found himself back to square one and that irked him a bit. Just how hard was it to find a tree house in the middle of a small town!? "All we have to do is just find a tree house and we're good for the day."

"That's what you said thirty minutes ago and look where we are now." Kurama remarked snidely.

Naruto scowled at that but made no signs of retorting. Instead, he sighed. "It's fine. So as long as we don't encounter any other weird ponies, I''m sure everything will be alri—"

"Oh my Celestia, what is that thing!?" A feminine voice practically shrieked.

Naruto inwardly groaned. "Oh Kami, what now?"

The cry of indignant could've been directed to anypony but he got this odd feeling that it was directed to him. Especially when he was in the middle of nowhere.

Glancing in the direction of said voice. His assumption was proven to be correct when he saw another filly coming his way.

First glance-wise, the filly looked quite classy in her own style with her regal white fur and curly violet mane that seemed to defy gravity, in which it reminds him of the obnoxious upper classmen ponies back in Canterlot.

The filly would've looked okay if it weren't for the look of utter horrification on her muzzle. As if she had witnessed the worse thing in her entire life.

'This won't go well.' He mentally stated to himself.

"What in the name of Equestria are you wearing!?"

The blond could only blink. "Sorry?"

"That thing!" She said, pointing to the ragged tagged cloak he was wearing as if it was the vilest thing in Equestria. "What is that thing!?"

"Oh, you mean this? It's my cloak." He stated as if it was nothing. "What about it?"

"It looks horrible!"

"Excuse me?" Before this, he always thought Shining Armor and Cadence was the one to be the most dramatic. Apparently, he was wrong. In more ways than one.

"No, no, no, this won't do at all, you must come with me now!"

"Wait, wha—"

Naruto opened his muzzle to come up with a retort but the white mare was already a step ahead and proceeded on dragging him away, much to his dismay. Having little to no say in this matter, the blond could do nothing but let the filly lead him away from his main objective.

…

"Uh, where are we?" With each minute passed by, the blond wasn't even sure if he was still in Ponyville and not some other hidden village in other parts of Equestria.

Still no signs of a huge tree house for Kami's sake.

"To my boutique, where else, darling?"

"The what now?" The blond was about to ask what she meant by that until he caught something bizarre in his sight. "What is that?"

He was aware that the architecture of this world is different than his own previous but that doesn't stop him from being surprised at each and every new structures he saw.

"That, over there, is my boutique, darling!" She declared proudly.

Naruto blinked, ignoring the fact that she just called him 'darling''. "What's a boutique?"

She gasped. "You don't know what a boutique is!?" She shrieked before resting a hoof on her forehead. "Oh, the nerve of ponies nowadays!"

Ignoring the filly's frustration, the blond glanced at the newly-profound structure in front of him.

If he were to describe the building in a short phrase, the best one he could come up with was an 'expired wedding cake'. Because it literally looked like one.

The windows were shattered with majority being boarded by wooden planks, the paint job were long peeled and deteriorated from years of lack of maintenance and some of the wooden railing had gave away at some point and was now dangling purposelessly on the balcony. Even the front entrance wasn't excluded from the damage either as it looked like it was forcefully opened.

Seeing the skeptical expression on the orange stallion's face, the filly spoke, "Yes, yes, I know. It looks hideous and awful but not to worry! In a few months' time, I'll turn this into a mighty fine establishment. Just you wait and see!"

"Well, I wish you the greatest luck with that." Naruto sweatdropped when one of the creaking pillars finally gave way right there and collapsed under its own weight. "So why am I doing here again?"

"Why to get you a new outfit, of course!" She elaborated, still dragging him by the foreleg into her self-quoted fine establishment. The action would've been considerably epic if the double doors was still there in which it wasn't. "You seriously aren't thinking about wearing that cloak for the whole day, are you?"

"As a matter of fact, I actually—" The filly stared at him murderously. "—have the same idea as you did as well."

"Simply splendid!"

"I think I got just the thing for you!"

Having nothing else to do, the blond figured he should explore for a bit. If he was going to stay here for a few days, he might as well find out what's around him.

Just like what the filly admitted, the place was an absolute mess. Everywhere he looked, he could see nothing but the color grey. Half of the space was occupied by an unidentified piece of furniture covered in dusty white cloth while the rest was littered with piles after piles of trash and debris.

The blond had to watch his steps when he noticed some of the floorboards were cracked and splintered, exposing the dark bottomless pit down below. Cleaning would definitely be a chore for her. Then again, she was a unicorn so he highly doubt cleaning would deal much of a problem for her.

Running out of interesting things to examine, the blond proceeded on looking at the view outside. His choice was limited unfortunately since majority of the windows were still messily boarded up.

On the first window, the orange stallion could see the town square as indicated by the water fountain at the center followed by the ponies that was roaming about the place at a calm pace.

Switching on to the second available window that was located on the other side of the run-down 'boutique', Naruto could distinguish the rest of the houses and even more ponies trotting around. For a small town, this place sure was jampacked. Not as many as Canterlot but still plenty by his standards.

Still, he caught no signs of the treehouse. Just how hard is it to find a single tree house in this place.

"Aha, I finally found it!"

Blinking his eyes in surprise, Naruto spun around just in time to see the mare emerging out of the the back area with a magically-floating box by her side.

"I'm not sure if this is your size but you'll definitely love it!"

"I doubt I will." He muttered under his breath.

It's getting late now. If he was going to be nice, he might as well tell her now before it's too late.

"Listen, uh—"

"Rarity." She chipped in.

"Rarity." He corrected. "I appreciate the help but I don't think there's no need for you to do any of this. I'm fine with this cloak as it is."

"Nonsense, darling. I'm absolutely fine with this!" She said as she began untying the ribbon that was wrapped around the box. "Fashion is my passion, after all!"

"Besides, you look like you could use some help with your closet yourself."

"Well for your information, I can take care of myself just fi—"

Whatever words Naruto was about to say next, it died down in his throat when the filly named Rarity finally finished unwrapping the ribbons and popped the box open. His eyes practically become as big as bowling balls when he finally saw its content.

"W-What is that?"

"This is a dress shirt, darling. Surely you must've seen or heard of it somewhere." She described. "Now, why don't you be a sweetheart and put it on—"

Rarity spun around to confront Naruto. Imagine her surprise was when she realized that the blond was nowhere in sight. The only indication that showed he was previously there was the slightly ajar front door that was swinging ever so slightly from the wind draft outside.

Needless to say, Rarity was flabbergasted. "W-Wha—" She stammered, completely at loss for words. "The nerve of that stallion!"

…

"Kami, that was close." Naruto sighed in relief. "If I was a second late, I'd be screwed."

'In case you haven't noticed, we're moving further away from the town."

"Wait, what?"

In the midst of his panic, the blond had somehow found himself on the outskirts of Ponyville once more.

"Great. More delays." He lamented sarcastically to himself.

'You can always move forward.' Kurama suggested. 'Knowing your luck, you're bound to find your way sooner or later.'

"Fine by me, it's not like I know where I'm going anyway." He said sarcastically.

Still, the fox made a valid point. If he was going to arrive at his destination, he might as well move on rather than being rooted in one spot. That doesn't necessarily mean he'll like it though.

Fortunately for him, the deities in this realm wasn't being too nasty with him and has granted him a small hint in the form of a ground pathway that led to…somewhere. Shrugging his shoulders, the blond trotted ahead. It was something, at least.

It wasn't long before he caught sight of what seemed to be barn by the horizon.

Naruto picked up the pace and starting galloping lightly towards the place. Hopefully, it wasn't occupied by any weird ponies like the ones he met earlier today.

Luckily for him, an unexpected visitor showed up for him instead.

Stopping within his tracks, Naruto found himself utterly stumped at what he was witnessing at the very moment.

It was a filly, lying in the middle of the ground pavement, doing nothing but minding her own business without the slightest care in Equestria.

"Uh Kurama, are you seeing what I'm seeing?"

'You mean the devil spawn that's lying in the middle of the road? Yes, I do.'

Ignoring the fox's rude commentary on the little filly, Naruto quietly approached the mare whom was giggling as if there was nothing wrong in this world.

"Hey there, miss." Naruto greeted, trying his very best to not scare the filly away. The blond practically flinched when the filly spun around and stared at him with its big round beady eyes filled with nothing but curiosity and interest. "What are you doing here by all yourself?"

Considering how she showed no signs of giving him any proper answers, the blond began surveying his surroundings, wondering just how the filly managed to get herself here of all places. He then remembered the barn he saw from earlier.

"You wouldn't happen to come from the barn over there, do you?"

Obviously, the filly didn't give a verbal answer to that. But it seem to giggle slightly at his strange gesture.

Naruto sighed. He should've expected as much. "Well, there's only one way to find out."

Scooping the baby filly in his forehoof, Naruto gently placed the raspberry-maned filly on his back.

"Up you go."

Having being not too good with children in his former life, he half expected her to burst out crying from his touch. Much to his amazement, the mare only giggled even further, no doubt excited by the impromptu piggyback ride she was having. She even bounced a few times when she realized just how comfortable his back was.

"You're enjoying yourself back there?" He remarked amusingly, patting her by her mane. "Now let's bring you back home, okay?"

With the little filly secured on his back, he went on ahead and approached the barn. As he got closer to the entrance, the blond could see the large sign that hung over it.

"Sweet…Apple…Acres…" The orange stallion pronounced vaguely, his eyes squinted hard as he tried to process the words on the sign with the bits and knacks of vocabulary knowledge he acquired from Princess Celestia's short but bountiful tutelage. "Oh yeah! This is the farm Cadence once talked about."

From what he heard, the apple family are famous for growing the best apples in Equestria. They even received the acknowledgement of Princess Celestia herself if he recalled correctly.

Heading to the front door, the blond gave the wooden oak door a few knock that seemed to resonate across the whole farm. He waited for any response but received none of such in return, much to his puzzlement.

"Huh. Doesn't look like anypony's home." He pointed out the obvious, ignoring the baby filly tugging on his mane. "Though that would raise more question on where you come from."

The maroon-maned filly merely giggled in return.

'Then drop the devil spawn here and leave. We got other places to go to.' Kurama replied without missing a beat.

Naruto took the obvious route and decided to ignore his partner. He may be occupied but that doesn't mean he should ignore others that are in need; especially a filly lying in the middle of the road. Heck, he might actually have to file a report if it does came to that.

The orange stallion was just about to knock the door once more when he heard something nearby.

"Hey Kurama, did you hear something?"

"You mean the sound of the devil spawn chewing on your hair?"

"What? No! I meant the music!" Naruto retorted before pausing. "Wait, is she actually chewing on my hair?"

Sure enough, the little filly now has found his golden locks to be rather delectable and was now vigorously chewing on a few strands. With a deadpanned look on his muzzle, he whipped his head to remove his unfortunate mane from the confines of the filly's muzzle. The filly simply giggled in return.

"Please, don't do that." He spoke to her as if expecting her to understand him before going back to the current situation at hoof. "Anyway, I could've sworn I heard music somewhere in this area."

Abandoning his first plan of confronting the front door, he stepped off the front foyer and trotted around the farm, making sure to keep a close ear to the music as it got louder and louder to him.

Turning around the corner, he was mildly surprise to come across a multitude of ponies in what seemed to be a party some sort.

"Well, I can see how she got out in the open now."

"You were saying something about avoiding weird ponies?" Kurama pointed out with a smirk.

"Shut up." If looks can kill, the blond wished his murderous look would be strong enough to murder the fox that was residing inside his body. Unfortunately, it wasn't so the blond had to cope with his partner's annoying bark-like laughter that seemed to resonate through his mindscape.

While he was occupied bickering with Kurama on the sidelines, one of the ponies partying noticed his weird demeanor and approached him. It wasn't until he was a few hooves away did Naruto noticed him coming, prompting the orange stallion to straighten his stance out of respectful habit.

"Howdy there, partner, you came just in time for the party!"

Naruto stared at the cowboy hat stallion like he just grew a second head. Having only stayed in Canterlot, the blond was only accustomed to the upper-class ponies' haughty accent. It took him an embarrassingly long time before he processed what the pony just said and came up with a reply for it.

"Uh, hi?" He said as he half-heartedly waved a hoof at him.

Oblivious to his discomfort, the pony grinned before his expression faltered and he gazed at Naruto with the utmost interest. "Say, I've never seen you before…" He asked suspiciously, scrutinizing Naruto from top to bottom, trying to analyze all of his features that were not enshrouded in his cloak. "From which part of the Apple family are you from again?"

At one point, the cowboy was so keen on trying to recognize him that his face was compromisingly close to his own. Still retaining his awkward grin, Naruto figured that enough was enough and took a cautious step backward. "Actually, I'm not—"

Before he could as much as complete his sentence, the cowboy interrupted him, "Oh, I know! You're Golden Delicious' second cousin, aren't you!?"

"Uh no, I'm—"

"Apple Honey's relatives then?"

"No."

Perfect Pie's in-laws?"

"No!"

"Oh, how about Apple Tart's?"

"For the last time, I'm not—"

"Then how about Golden Ha—"

"I'M NOT A PART OF THE APPLE FAMILY!" He screamed, finally having enough of the stallion's non-stop chattering.

Good news, that stopped his rambling. Bad news, he effectively garnered everypony's attention and causing the whole party to screech to a complete halt as well to stare at him.

Glancing around awkwardly, Naruto could do nothing but sheepishly laugh at himself at what he just did. "Uh oh."

"You're not a part of the Apple family?"

He cleared his throat. "Last time I check, no, I'm not."

"Well, why don't you say so then!"

Naruto find himself sweatdropping at that. Despite being the impromptu founders of Ponyville, these ponies sure don't mind when their property is being intruded by strangers…

"But hold on a darn pickin' minute rite there," He said. "If you're not a part of the Apple family then who are you then then?"

…or not.

He cleared his throat. "First off, my name's Naruto Uzumaki. I'm—"

"Naruwhat now?"

The blond deadpanned. "Na-ru-to U-zu-ma-ki." He repeated, emphasizing each syllable carefully.

"Takoyaki Maki?" He said.

The blond held back a muffled groan. "No, its Naru—you know what, that's not important. "Getting straight to the point, Naruto reached behind and showed the ponies the filly he found. "I believe this little filly belongs to you?"

"Wait a sec, isn't that…" Leaning closer, the stallion squinted his eyes hard as he tried to recognize the filly. It took him a good five seconds before his eyes, along with everypony else in the vicinity, went wide in bewilderment.

"Applebloom!?" Everypony cried out in unison.

 **And that's a wrap for chapter 11!**

 **So im not sure if any of you remembered this but I was planning on finishing the introduction of all the Mane 6 in this chapter but unfortunately, things happened and I had no choice but to put a cliff hanger here and save AppleJack's introduction for the next one. It's a tough choice and it definitely ruined progress in my end so I hope you guys can forgive me for this cliffhanger. We'll make amends for this very soon.**


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